Councilman Alex Mendez lost his second attempt to convince a Superior Court judge that he was a victim of “selective prosecution” in state Attorney General’s pending election fraud case against him.
Mendez had been trying to get copies of Mayor Andre Sayegh’s emails and other documents to prove that the criminal case against him stemmed from political considerations, particularly Sayegh’s close ties to Gov. Phil Murphy’s Attorney General’s Office.
Mendez’s lawyer, Paul Brickfield, said he expected the documents showing political intrusion would have provided his client with the legal basis for getting the charges dismissed.
But Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed on Tuesday upheld a decision he made in September rejecting Mendez’s assertions of selective prosecution.
That now puts Mendez on track to go to trial in case in which not only his status as a councilman but also his liberty is at stake.
“We’re disappointed in the decision because we know that this whole thing has been politically motivated,” Mendez said on Wednesday, minutes after the judge’s decision was made public.
“Now we’re just going to have to wait for our day in court,” Mendez added. “We’re confident we will prevail.”
Among Mendez’ assertions were that the state charges against him were tainted because investigators used people close to the mayor — including one of Sayegh’s body guards and one of his deputy mayors — as translators while interviewing voters during the probe. Mendez’ lawyer also noted that the state did not pursue what he argued was a similar investigation involving a candidate who was allied with Sayegh at that time.
But the judge determined that Mendez had not proved that the probe was rigged.
Court officials have not yet set a trial date for Mendez or for Councilman Michael Jackson, who was indicted as part of the same Attorney General probe into Paterson 2020 city council ward elections. Jackson also has maintained his innocence.
An indictment in 2021 charged Mendez with seven crimes — election fraud, fraud in casting a mail-in vote, unauthorized possession of ballots, tampering with public records falsifying or tampering with records, false registration and attempted false registration.
The most serious charge — election fraud — is a second-degree offense that comes with a maximum 10-year prison sentence if he were convicted. That charge is based on the allegation that Mendez registered two people to vote in the 3rd Ward even though he knew they did not live in the election district.
Source : Yahoo
