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Defense attorney Brian Neary argued that a venue change was necessary because of charges that his client, Aakash Dala, hatched murder plots against an assistant prosecutor and two judges.
The request stirred Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian.
“Mr. Dalal doesn’t get to decide who tries this case,” he told Neary. “It would be the crudest form of judge shopping. If Mr. Dalal threatened me next, I would then have to recuse myself.”
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Elizabeth Rebein (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
Saying there was “nothing before this court that would cause its impartiality to reasonably be questioned,” Jerejian said he personally wouldn’t be prejudiced against Dala if the threats turned out to be true.
“Even if the trial went to another county, they are still fellow judges,” he said.
Neary also argued that there was insufficient evidence to indict his client for instigating arsons against the synagogues by his co-defendant, Anthony Graziano.
He also said errors were made and the presence of Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli in the room unduly influenced the grand jurors.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Elizabeth Rebein countered that “the rules of the grand jury are relaxed,” and that “the state does not have to prove its case. We only have to demonstrate sufficient cause to charge him.”
Molinelli’s presence didn’t violate any laws or regulations, she added.
Rebein said prosecutors had no choice but to charge Dalal in the alleged plots after a jailhouse snitch came to them.
She also said that Dalal “told the FBI [Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor] Martin Delaney would be the first person he would kill when he got out of jail.”
The case still has a very long way to go despite today’s rulings.
Jerejian scheduled May 16 to continue hearing arguments by both sides — and conceded there likely will be many more raised before a trial date could finally be set.
Dalal in court today with attorney Brian Neary, Graziano with attorney Ian Sliver
(STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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