Other big stories in New Jersey that may have been overshadowed by Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene was the big headline last week as the storm and its aftermath interrupted the lives of millions of New Jerseyans.
But while many were cleaning up flooded basements and lawns, sitting in hours of traffic caused by road closures or dealing with the paperwork of insurance claims, the rest of the world was going about its business.
Here’s a summary of significant state events and reports that may have been missed in the torrents of misery Irene brought us:
MISSING NEWARK TEENS
Philander Hampton waits for a hearing to begin at the Essex County Courthouse in Newark in this January 2011 file photo. Philander Hampton, one of two men accused of killing five Newark teens in August 1978, pleaded guilty to five counts of felony murder Tuesday in Superior Court in Essex County.
Hampton, 54, of Jersey City said he held a gun on two teens in a Camden Street house, and his cousin Lee Anthony Evans trapped three other boys there.
With the teens corralled into a closet that was then nailed shut, Evans set the house on fire, leaving all five boys to die, because he believed they had stolen a pound of marijuana from him, according to officials and Hampton’s confession.
The case had baffled authorities for 30 years before Hampton came forward in 2008 to confess to his part in the tragedy. The Essex County prosecutor recommended a 10-year sentence for Hampton. Under state guidelines from 1978, Hampton could be eligible for parole after two years. Because he has been jailed since his March 2010 arrest, the deal means Hampton could be paroled next year.
In exchange for his plea in the boys’ Aug. 20, 1978, disappearance, Hampton is expected to testify against Evans, 58, who lives in Irvington. His murder trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 21. Evans recently won the right to represent himself at trial.
Hampton remains in jail. He is to be sentenced Sept. 23.
TYLER CLEMENTI CASE
Dharun Ravi, Tyler Clementi's former roommate, is arraigned at the Middlesex County Courthouse in this file photo. Prosecutors have asked that the identity of the man Clementi had relations with be held secret due to his sexual orientation.On Monday, Middlesex County prosecutors filed a motion asking Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman to issue a protective order to ensure the man’s name, address and birthday be kept secret. Currently, he is known publicly only as M.B.
Lawyers for the defendant, Dharun Ravi of Plainsboro, have said they want to speak to M.B. to prepare their client’s defense. Ravi, 19, is accused of using a webcam in his Piscataway dorm last September to spy on his roommate.
Several days later, Clementi, 18, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.
Prosecutors suggested M.B. could be interviewed anonymously, but Ravi’s lawyers rejected that offer.
"Fearing further victimization and in a request for privacy, he asks that his name not be turned over at this time," prosecutors wrote in their motion.
Transcripts of instant-messaging chats included in court papers show Clementi told friends M.B. was 25 and uncomfortable with people knowing he was gay.
Ravi is charged with 15 counts, including invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and trying to mislead investigators. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charges.
The next court date for the case is Friday.
GOVERNMENT JOBS CUT
A crowd of state union workers gather outside the Statehouse Annex in protest of the public employee pension and healthcare benefits bill in this June file photo. A Star-Ledger analysis shows that N.J. currently employs the lowest number of public workers in eight years.The number of government workers in New Jersey dropped to its lowest level since 2003, according to a Star-Ledger analysis.
The state has shed just over 29,000 state and local jobs — including teachers, state workers and police officers — since Gov. Chris Christie took office 19 months ago. Only New York and California eliminated more public-sector jobs in that time, according to federal labor statistics.
While Christie touts the numbers as evidence that he is keeping his promise to shrink the size of government, critics say the reduction in public sector jobs is not helping the struggling economy. New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 9.5 percent, one of the highest in the country.
INMATES ALLEGEDLY DUPED
On Tuesday, Attorney General Paula Dow announced a four-count complaint against Bruce Buccolo and his company, Project Freedom Fund.
Officials say Buccolo and his firm violated the Consumer Fraud Act because the company marketed itself as a watchdog agency that identified inadequate public defenders. The complaint charges Buccolo and Project Freedom Fund with scamming desperate inmates into paying a $350 consulting fee for legal representation. But when the prisoners did receive legal aid, it allegedly was from a person who was not a lawyer or from an attorney who had been disbarred.
Buccolo denied the accusations.
BERGRIN’S PRO SE MOTION
Paul W. Bergrin, a high-profile criminal defense attorney accused of plotting to hire a hitman to kill a government witness, asked to represent himself in court.Prominent defense attorney Paul Bergrin, who is accused of plotting to hire a hitman to kill a government witness, wants to represent himself at trial.
Citing financial constraints, Bergrin filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Newark. On Tuesday, Judge William J. Martini entertained the motion but postponed his decision on it.
The judge urged Bergrin to reconsider, and he praised Bergrin’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, who has been representing him for two years.
"It would be very foolish to go on your own," Martini said.
Bergrin was arrested in 2009 and charged with conspiring with another attorney, Thomas J. Moran Jr., to hire a Chicago hitman to kill a witness in a cocaine-distribution case. Moran pleaded guilty last summer and implicated Bergrin.
The 33-count indictment against Bergrin includes murder conspiracy, racketeering and prostitution charges. He remains in federal custody in Brooklyn.
NEWARK’S NEW TOP COP
Police Chief Sheilah A. Coley is all smiles after being sworn into her duties Aug. 18 at the New Hope Baptist Church. She is Newark's first female African American police chief.There were only 15 women in the Newark Police Department when Sheilah Coley entered the academy in 1989, and none ranked above detective. Twenty-two years later, Coley has become the first female chief in the department’s 175-year history.
But while city officials have been quick to point out that Coley, 48, is the first woman to become Newark’s top cop, she says there’s much more to her climb than that. With a back story that includes being shuffled among family members, living in foster care and serving a three-year stint in the Air Force, Coley said her rise shows anyone can overcome adversity.
"For me, it’s more important to be the chief than the gender or the race. But I care about the gender and the race," she said. "There are a lot of girls out here who may think ‘I don’t have a family, I don’t have this, so I can’t’ — they are placing limitations on themselves."
'DEPRAVED' ATTACK
Marcal Campbell and Edward Woodson were charged with sexually assaulting a handicapped Plainfield woman.Details of the alleged Jan. 31 attack were made public Thursday, a day after a grand jury in Elizabeth returned an eight-count indictment charging a resident of the home, Edward Woodson, 31, and registered sex offender Marcal Campbell, 30, also of Plainfield, with sexual assault.
Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow described the alleged rape as "depraved and perverted." He said the men later put the 30-year-old victim out into the street in a growing snowstorm.
Dressed in only a sweatshirt and pants, the woman spent the next two hours begging strangers for help, Romankow said. No one came to her aid.
Finally, nearly 12 hours after Woodson had lured her to his home on East Front Street, his family called a cab and sent her home, the prosecutor said. Some of Woodson’s relatives were at home during the alleged assault, but Romankow said it was unclear if they knew what happened.
Authorities have also charged Woodson with kidnapping, alleging he went to the woman’s home and invited her to Plainfield for a Bible study. The woman — identified in court papers as S.S. — met Woodson at an unidentified church in Scotch Plains, where she was preparing to be baptized, Romankow said.
CHRISTIE’S MEMORIAL VISIT
Gov. Chris Christie points to where the World Trade Center towers stood after a tour of the 9/11 memorial at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. Looking on are Christie's children Sarah, Bridget and Patrick.Gov. Christie and his wife and children toured the New Jersey 9/11 memorial in Jersey City on Wednesday, in advance of its Sept. 10 opening. Afterward, the governor and his wife spoke about how their family handled the tragedy.
Mary Pat Christie worked two blocks from the Twin Towers and was evacuated by ferry that day.
No family members died in the attacks, but the Christies knew many who were grieving.
The couple allowed their two older children, Andrew and Sarah, to watch the footage of the attacks in the days and weeks that followed. Patrick was just a baby and Bridget wasn’t yet born.
"Evil being shown to kids can be an inspiration to them to be good," said the governor, who at the time had just been nominated to the post of U.S. attorney for New Jersey.