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TRENTON
- The Division of Criminal Justice today
filed a motion to dismiss indictments against
Hunterdon County Sheriff Deborah Trout,
Undersheriff Michael Russo, and former Sheriff’s
Investigator John Falat Jr. because they
are legally and factually unsustainable.
Somerset County Superior Court Judge Paul
W. Armstrong granted the motion, dismissing
the following indictments in their entirety:
-
Hunterdon County Indictment No. 10-04-00096,
returned on April 7, 2010, charging Sheriff
Trout with seven counts of second-degree
official misconduct;
- Hunterdon
County Indictment No. 10-04-00098, returned
on April 7, 2010, charging Undersheriff
Russo with twenty-three counts of second-degree
official misconduct, two counts of second-degree
criminal simulation, and one count of
fourth-degree falsifying records; and
- Hunterdon
County Indictment No. 10-04-00097, returned
on April 7, 2010, charging Falat with
six counts of second-degree official misconduct,
two counts of second-degree criminal simulation,
one count of fourth-degree criminal simulation,
and one count of fourth-degree falsifying
records.
When the former prosecutor resigned in
May, the Division of Criminal Justice
superseded the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s
Office under its general supervisory authority
over the county prosecutors, pending appointment
and confirmation of a new prosecutor.
In that role, the Division of Criminal
Justice conducted an exhaustive review
of the grand jury transcripts and exhibits,
as well as the entire investigative files
for each of these indictments.
The
State's motion to dismiss without prejudice
was based upon legal and factual deficiencies
in the indictments against all three defendants.
The motion was also based on errors in the
county grand jury presentation that made
the indictments defective. Those deficiencies
and errors made the indictments unsustainable
and compelled the Division of Criminal Justice
to file the motion in the interest of justice.
Deputy
Attorney General Christine Hoffman, Chief
of the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption
Bureau, represented the State in court this
morning.
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