Jim Walsh
CAMDEN — People who agreed to
plea bargains after being falsely arrested by corrupt Camden cops cannot seek
financial damages under a state law, an appellate court has ruled.
The decision came in a lawsuit
involving three men and a woman arrested by members of a rogue narcotics unit
in 2007-08. But it is expected to affect a much larger group of people ensnared
in a Camden City police scandal that became public in 2010.
The Camden County Prosecutor’s
Office dismissed charges against 215 people after the police misconduct
surfaced; more than 80 have sued seeking damages for wrongful arrest and
incarceration, the decision noted.
Almost all of those convicted
admitted guilt in plea bargains, county Prosecutor Warren Faulk noted Friday.
The appellate decision
overturned a Superior Court ruling in favor of the plaintiffs — Albert Cass, Robert
Henderson, Antwyne Rolax and Dayna Hinton. Hinton received probation and the
others got prison terms after admitting guilt to purported drug or weapons
offenses.
The three-judge panel delivered
its opinion last week. It cited the ruling that same day in dismissing a
separate lawsuit by William Graham, another man jailed after his arrest by the
Camden officers.
The appellate ruling said the
state’s Mistaken Imprisonment Act is off-limits to people who “cause or bring
about” their convictions. It said someone who admits guilt “necessarily” causes
his or her conviction.
The appeals court acknowledged
innocent people may plead guilty to lesser offenses to avoid a trial on more
serious charges. But it said the state Supreme Court “has clearly established a
strong judicial policy disapproving such pleas.”
As a result, the ruling noted,
people admitting guilt are required “to provide a truthful account of what
actually occurred to justify the acceptance of a plea.”
Kenneth Aita, one of the
attorneys for those arrested, said people are unlikely to fight trumped-up
charges.
“If the officers are willing to
lie about your arrest, they’re certainly willing to come to court and lie,”
said the Haddon Heights lawyer. “In a perfect world, nobody would plead to a
crime they didn’t commit, but that’s not reality.”
Aita said he would discuss the
case with his clients before deciding on future actions.
Benjamin Yaster, an attorney
for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, expressed disappointment.
He said the ruling seeks “to maintain the fiction that actually innocent people
do not plead guilty.”
But Faulk said the ruling
reflected the Legislature’s intent in writing the law, noting the measure was
amended last year specifically to bar claims involving plea agreements. He said
the state Attorney General’s Office initially settled claims by some of those
arrested but challenged the others in court after the prosecutor’s office
expressed its concern.
“The courts can’t allow fraud
to be perpetrated,” Faulk said. “You can’t stand up and lie under oath, confess
… and then come back later and say, ‘No, I was lying and I deserve money.’”
Of the 215 cases that were
dismissed, only two involved suspects who went to trial, Faulk said. Both
resulted in convictions.The remaining cases either involved plea bargains or
were still pending at the time of dismissal.According to court papers, the
average length of incarceration for the dozens of plaintiffs was 510 days.
Together, the group spent a collective 107 years in prison.
Camden City last year agreed to
pay more than $3.5 million to 85 people who sued in federal court over their
treatment. That group included Cass, Henderson, Rolax and Hinton.Three Camden
City police officers pleaded guilty to corruption charges, and a fourth was
convicted at a trial in December 2011.
