State Senator Joseph Cryan (D-Union) reaffirmed his proposals for an independent oversight office for state prosecutors following the dismissal of corruption charges against South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross.
In September, Cryan initially demanded the establishment of an Office of Inspector General for Prosecutorial Oversight. State Senator Gordon Johnson (D-Englewood) has recently endorsed the plan after Cryan stated that the office will look into claims of prosecutorial misconduct.
Founded in 2018 to combat corruption, the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability has been accused of wrongdoing. After a bungled prosecution, the lawyer for a Lakewood rabbi urged probes into the agency, and the lawyer for a former assemblyman who was charged with corruption accused the office of withholding evidence.
According to a release from Cryan, today’s dismissals are merely the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability’s most recent embarrassing setback. Judges throughout the state have regularly reprimanded the OPIA, and numerous reputable attorneys have accused it of improper behavior and prosecutorial abuse that verges on misconduct. Despite this, the Attorney General appears incapable or unwilling to address these numerous issues.
According to Cryan, the prosecutors have not used discretion and have instead needlessly jeopardized people’s livelihoods.
According to Cryan, the individuals in control of that office have actually ignored the losses, charges, and reprimands while the prosecutors under their supervision either leave the office or are transferred as soon as feasible. After their abrupt departure, these attorneys have occasionally even made an inexplicable attempt to ascend farther inside the judicial system. People’s lives are destroyed in the interim.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, a lawyer representing Norcross blasted the state for not having an attorney general.
Regretfully, Jersey lacks an inspector general’s office, but I believe it’s time for us to look into it. Michael Critchley, an attorney from Norcross, said.
