White Collar Crime News

And yet another New Jersey politician with legal problems August 27, 2009

While you can say this is get ridiculous with all of these stories, I think this case itself is ridiculous.  I really don’t understand the waiver of indictment without a specific deal here unless he applied to PTI and he knows he will get it.  That’s the only thing that makes sense and is my guess for what is going on here.

I would take this case to trial in a second.  There is clearly no criminal intent here, even in the press release.  However, a case like this is won or lost during jury selection.  With all of the stories about New Jersey politicians, you have to make sure that the jurors you choose have no bias; not even a hint of it.  Good luck finding that here though and you better hope that you get a judge  that allows you conduct your own voir dire.

TRENTON – Attorney General Anne Milgram announced that Roselle Borough Council President Jamel Holley was charged today by accusation with illegally filling out a portion of the absentee ballots of voters in the 2006 Democratic primary for Borough Council.

According to Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni, Holley, 29, of Roselle, was charged by accusation with violating the state’s absentee voting law, a third-degree crime. Holley waived his right to be indicted by a grand jury and agreed to be charged by accusation. The accusation was entered before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier in Mercer County.

The accusation charges that Holley tampered with absentee ballots by completing portions of the absentee ballots of at least 20 voters, contrary to the absentee voting law, which seeks to ensure the secrecy of balloting and prevent any improper influencing of voters. The charge is the result of an investigation by the New Jersey State Police Official Corruption Bureau.

Holley campaigned for candidate Rosemarie Bullock. His support included registering voters and encouraging them to vote by absentee ballot. The investigation revealed that Holley contacted prospective voters to see if they had received their absentee ballots. If they had, Holley went to their homes and allegedly illegally assisted them in completing the ballots.

 Holley allegedly filled out the inner envelopes of a number of ballots, which is prohibited by law. A number of these ballots were later thrown out by the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court.