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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The top judge in Hackensack today said she will ask the state Supreme Court to appoint a judge from a county outside Bergen or Passaic to preside over the trial of two men charged with plotting a series of Bergen synagogue firebombings.
The state’s highest court sent the question of how to proceed after the attorney for Aakash Dalal argued that he couldn’t get a fair trial because of alleged threats he made against judges and an assistant prosecutor.
Superior Court Assignment Judge Bonnie J. Mizdol (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
Superior Court Assignment Judge Bonnie J. Mizdol, in turn, rejected attorney Brian Neary’s bid to move the case to another county.
Speaking before a courtroom packed with synagogue members, prosecutors, staff and members of Dalal’s family, Misdol said the judge cannot come from Passaic County because former Presiding Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebbi — one of the allegedly threatened jurists — is now seated there.
“The court hasn’t been presented with clear and convincing evidence that any of the concerns advanced by the defense would prevent a fair and impartial trial in Bergen County,” Mizdol said.
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said the outcome wouldn’t change his office’s case against Dalal and Anthony Marco Graziano, the man accused of committing the firebombings.
“We’re pleased with the decision,” Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “The entire case occurred in Bergen, and the victims are certainly entitled to have this matter heard in Bergen County.”
Molinelli said the county “will present the best cross-section of jurors to decide the guilt or innocence of the defendants in this case.”
Neary argued, that, among other things:
• It isn’t feasible to bring in an outside judge;
• It would be a burden on both Bergen and the sending county;
• Bergen wouldn’t be able to find a courtroom for the visiting judge to try the case;
• If the case were transferred to Hudson County, is would be no inconvenience to the victims — and would actually be more convenient for some;
• Bringing in an outside judge wouldn’t negate an appearance of impropriety.
Mizdol said she was confident Bergen courts would be able to handle the physical requirements of hosting an outside judge; that the burden on another county would be equal whether the trial is here or elsewhere; and that the victims, all of whom are from Bergen, have a right to have the case heard here.
As to impropriety, Mizdol said, “These concerns are present in every jury trial, and mitigated by voir dire,” the practice of questioning potential jurors about any conflicts or preconceived ideas they may have.
“The Supreme Court expressly disagreed with the defendant’s proposition that bringing in an outside judge would be insufficient to ameliorate the appearance of impropriety,” she wrote.
Neary’s request originally was denied last year by Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian, who called it “the crudest form of judge shopping.” He then went to the state Appellate Division, which sent the case to Passaic County.
Molinelli appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Annemarie Cozzi, First Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor John Higgins, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
The court found that “a reasonable, fully informed observer could have doubts about a Bergen County judge’s impartiality” in handling Dalal’s case and directed Misdol to choose between sending it elsewhere or bringing in an outside judge.
Prosecutors said Graziano carried out the bombings in December 2011 and January 2012 under Dalal’s tulelage — including one at Congregation Beth El in Rutherford, another at Temple K’Hal Adath Jeshrun of Paramus, and an attempted arson at the Jewish Community Center of Paramus.
The pair are also charged with bias intimidation offenses at Temple Beth Israel in Maywood and at Temple Beth El Hackensack.
Graziano was arrested in January 2012 following an intense manhunt after surveillance footage released to the public showed him leaving the Route 46 Wal-Mart in Saddle Brook with a bag of items that included hair spray cans, duct tape and Orange Crush – to be used as bombs, Molinelli said at the time.
The Orange Crush bottles are believed connected to “Left 4 Dead,” an X-Box game that two Florida honor students cited as their inspiration for throwing more than a dozen Molotov cocktails at cars and a house in Florida four years ago, the prosecutor said.
STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia
Although people commonly know of Molotov cocktails as bottles filled with gas and ignited by a kerosene-soaked wick stuffed into the mouth, some devices instead involve a chemical or gel and gasoline mix that ignites when the container breaks.
Authorities first believed that Graziano was a “loner,” as Molinelli put it.
But a check of his computer turned up correspondence with Dalal, a childhood friend.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT received information pointing to Dalal early in the investigation and immediately notified Molinelli. However, the prosecutor said his detectives independently got onto Dalal’s trail based on a biased posting of his on a Jewish online site after the firebombings.
Both men are the first defendants in New Jersey charged with terrorism under a state law enacted in 2002, months after 9/11.
Dalal had arranged to post $1 million bail when an alleged murder plot against Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney was discovered, Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time. After the murder conspiracy charges were brought, Dalal’s bail was hiked to the current $4 million.
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