In a decisive win for SCHI founder Rabbi Osher Eisemann, the second one in as many weeks, Judge Joseph Paone ordered prosecutors to immediately surrender additional evidence that they had been withholding, ending a year-long quest by prosecutors to keep evidence they were required to turn over years ago out of the defense’s hands.
Last week, the state’s appellate court upheld the judge’s ruling that prosecutors had violated the Brady Act by failing to disclose a crucial page from “Exhibit F,” a document audit trail created prior to the trial.
But prosecutors, led by Deputy Attorney General John Nicodemo, still refused to hand over the rest of Exhibit F, containing hundreds of pages of potentially critical information that the defense was entitled to see before the trial.
Now, after the Appellate Division’s decision, Judge Paone refused to let the prosecutors withhold the evidence any longer.
During a heated hearing, he criticized the prosecution for their attempts to conceal the evidence and called them “disingenuous” for not calling up the only eyewitness to testify at trial.
Despite the prosecution’s efforts to evade the order by indicating their intention to escalate the case to the New Jersey Supreme Court, Judge Paone dismissed their arguments. He expressed skepticism about the likelihood of the highest court accepting the case, citing the absence of any dissenting opinions. Unwilling to entertain further delays, the judge ordered the immediate release of the evidence, dismissing the prosecution’s objections.
“I will not wait for them,” ruled Paone. “You must produce the document without delay. Mr. Vartan, prepare an order, and I will sign it. If they choose to appeal to the Appellate Division, they are free to do so. However, I am issuing an order that the State produce the audit trail immediately.”
The order was promptly prepared and signed by Judge Paone before the end of the day.
With no legal recourse left, the prosecution reluctantly sent the full 347-page audit trail the following day. However, the copy provided was a sanitized version with all notes and markings removed. During the hearing, Judge Paone had granted permission for this initial submission, but allowed the defense to file a motion if they required the unredacted copy.
The defense team is currently reviewing the newly disclosed documents, and it is anticipated that additional motions will be filed in the upcoming weeks.
Despite the prosecution’s objections and their desire to wait for the Supreme Court’s consideration, Judge Paone pressed forward by expediting the scheduling of a new trial. He set the trial date for August 1, with a pre-trial conference scheduled for July 5.
The following weeks are critical to the case, and askanim have urged the tzibur to continue davening for Osher ben Chana Frumit.
See the judge’s order below.
This story reminds me of what happened in the Bible the old Testament, when Lavan tried to fool Yaakov our Patriarch and he also caused Yaakov a lot of pain and suffering.
Eventually God settled this story and Lavan got punished and a big reward for Yaakov and everyone saw and understood that Yaakov was the one who was honest and fair all the way from the beginning. Lavan was a liar and very evil. Now God is showing everyone who was the good man and who was the evil man.
Why are they going after this man like this? That is a rhetorical question. We all know the answers.
Will there be any consequences to the corrupt prosecuters brady violations?
Unfortunately, prosecutors in NJ usually have immunity in such situations. State senators Joe Cryan and Bob Singer recently sponsored a bill that would strip them of that immunity, but one of the biggest frum political experts in the state told me that it has a nearly zero chance of getting passed into law.
The best we can do is to drum up public opinion against them – the court of public opinion can punish offenders where the law leaves off.
Maybe voting out the corrupt liberals and liberal-wannabees… just a thought…
Lakewood has a lot of voters… We need to unite and stand up to evil. Whether Hashem will put in a רשע or not in a position of power is HIS decision, HE is the ממליך מלכים, but we must show that we despise the evil and vote against it. We can’t let political bribes distort our vision either, as it did to some in the previous gubenetorial election where many actually endorsed the democrat רשע …. כי השחד יעור פקחים ויסלף דברי צדיקים…
Would violating the Brady Act allow Rabbi Eisman to sue the State for legal fees etc?
Unfortunately not. The Supreme Court ruled in Imbler v. Pachtman that prosecutors have absolute immunity from civil suits or damages.
The State Bar Association or the AG can choose to punish them, but it’s not likely to happen.