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Thousands in jail await trials that are still a long way off. N.J.’s top court considers releasing some. Updated Jan 20, 2021; Posted Jan 20, 2021 New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner in a Jan. 9, 2017, file photo in Trenton. (Michael Mancuso | For NJ.com)TT TT Michael Mancuso Facebook Share New Jersey’s highest court is considering releasing hundreds of people awaiting trial behind bars as the coronavirus continues to keep juries at a standstill. Thousands of people in jail across the state have yet to be convicted, according to court records. Keeping so many locked up risked their health and violated their rights, the state’s top public defender and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey argued Wednesday during a nearly two-hour hearing before the state Supreme Court. ....
With New Jersey courts enduring indefinite delays to hold jury trials, the state’s top court is considering temporarily releasing up to 1,100 county jail inmates awaiting trial, despite prosecutors protests that the move would be dangerous and illegal. In a virtual hearing Wednesday, the state Supreme Court heard arguments to free all but the most serious offenders whose cases have wallowed for longer than six months due to the pandemic. Out of fairness to the accused, attorneys for the state Office of the Public Defender and the American Civil Liberties Union asked that the high court to develop new criteria to re-weigh the risks the inmates pose to society in order to release as many as possible. ....
Grewal is now N.J.’s longest-serving attorney general in a quarter century. Here’s how it’s going. Updated Jan 19, 2021; Posted Jan 19, 2021 Facebook Share It’s been more than a quarter century since a New Jersey attorney general stayed this long. Gurbir Grewal has been the state’s top law enforcement leader for three years as of Saturday, the first to hit that mark since the early 1990s. His historic appointment he’s the nation’s first Sikh attorney general was followed by one of the most challenging periods for law enforcement in modern history, defined by nationwide protests, a global pandemic and a mob attack incited by the country’s commander in chief. ....
Killer cop shows the costs of secrecy | Editorial Updated Dec 16, 2020; Posted Dec 16, 2020 Officer Philip Seidle shot his estranged wife, Tamara Wilson-Seidle, to death in from of their 7-year-old daughter in Asbury Park in 2015. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media Facebook Share Neptune cops just released more than 800 pages of internal affairs records on a fellow officer who killed his ex-wife with 12 gunshots in front of their 7-year-old daughter. They did so only when forced to by the Attorney General, following a years-long court battle with a newspaper. What it revealed: Police were more interested in protecting one of their own than this woman who feared for her life. Officer Philip Seidle, who had his gun briefly taken away after a previous domestic incident, is yet another example of a bad cop who might have been stopped if only the public had access to his internal affairs file. ....
Sweeney and Sacco use Black lives as political pawns | Editorial Updated Dec 13, 2020; Facebook Share Politicians in New Jersey are quick to declare that Black Lives Matter. But the fact that hundreds of people during this pandemic are behind bars based on stupid laws, and legislators might simply end their session this year and not fix them, says otherwise. This is what racism looks like today – it’s not firehoses. It’s this kind of foolery. New Jersey’s prisons have the worst racial disparity in the nation, largely because we slap people with long sentences for nonviolent crimes, with no chance of early release. Consider the harsher penalties for those accused of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school or 500 feet of public housing – that’s pretty much anywhere in a city like Newark. ....