Spying on Defense Lawyers Preparing for Trial? You Can’t Do That, Court Tells Prosecutors
A New Jersey appeals court took the unusual step of booting county prosecutors off a drug case after the office spied on a defense attorney preparing for trial, finding that when Middlesex County detectives put a wire on a key witness, they may as well have been “hiding in the closet,” reports NJ.com.
The appellate court gave the state attorney general’s office 45 days to assign it to “untainted attorneys” in another jurisdiction and ordered a hearing over whether the prosecutors’ key witness will be allowed to testify, according to NJ.com’s S.P. Sullivan.
Detectives at the county prosecutor’s office paid an informant $180 to secretly record a meeting with defense lawyer Joseph Mazraani.