HACKENSACK, N.J. _ A Superior Court Judge dismissed a request to appoint a special prosecutor in the official misconduct case against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over the Bridgegate scandal.
Bergen County Vicinage Assignment Judge Bonnie Mizdol said in an 11-page opinion released Friday morning that she was dismissing the motion by Wayne resident William J. Brennan to disqualify the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and all New Jersey county prosecutors from handling the case against Christie because Brennan lacked standing.
As a result, Mizdol said, the court can't entertain the merits of whether a special prosecutor should be installed for the case. The law states that a private complainant may not act as the prosecuting attorney, Mizdol said.
"Individual citizens cannot appropriate to themselves the law enforcement function," she wrote. "It is the responsibility of the prosecutor to investigate and prosecute crimes."
Brennan called Mizdol's ruling "an act of judicial cowardice."
"The only one with standing to raise a conflict of interest is the person compromised by the conflict," he said Friday. "This is not justice."
On Wednesday, an attorney for the Attorney General's Office, Jennifer E. Kmieciak, argued before Mizdol in a courtroom packed with media, but absent Christie, that Brennan's standing with the complaint ended when it was granted probable cause by Central Municipal Court Judge Roy McGeady.
Senior Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Catherine Foddai told Mizdol that there is "no reason to believe the" BCPO can't do its job.
And Craig Carpenito, Christie's attorney, told the judge that "the case is over," citing three state and federal investigations which found no wrongdoing on the part of the governor.
But in her decision, Mizdol homed in on the argument that Brennan did not have the authority to make the request, making evaluating the objectivity of the prosecutor moot.
"Complainant's role in this matter concluded at the end of the probable cause hearing," she wrote.
"Public policy justifies maintaining the distinction between those who may or may not prosecute criminal matters," Mizdol said in the opinion. "Principles of fairness and justice would be violated in allowing private citizens, who are not subject to the Rules of Professional Conduct, to use the judicial system to limit the freedom of others."
Mizdol further stated that Brennan cannot file a written response to a motion by Christie's attorney related to the appeal of the probable cause finding that's expected to be heard next month.
"This court shall not accept any additional submission from Brennan," she wrote.
Brennan, a retired Teaneck firefighter and outspoken critic of government officials, filed the complaint in Fort Lee municipal court Sept. 28. McGeady found probable cause Oct. 13.
Attorney General Christopher Porrino recused himself on Oct. 3. Then on Oct. 14, Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal, a Christie appointee, removed himself from the case, assigning First Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor John Higgins to take over.
Brennan, whose civilian complaint says that on or about Sept. 11, 2013, Christie failed to order his subordinates to re-open access lanes to the George Washington Bridge that were closed for a purported traffic study, said he will hold a news conference Monday to discuss next steps, which he said were "significant."
