In a case where GOP infighting turned into criminal charges, a Superior Court judge heard arguments Friday on whether the May theft of political signs is “too trivial” to prosecute.
GOP factions in Readington have sparred since moderates in the town endorsed former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) over now-Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) back in 2022. The conservative faction, looking to tie Albanese and others to the Democratic former congressman, placed signs in the town reminding voters of an ethics investigation into Malinowski’s stock trades.
Albanese, during what he described as “a moment of poor judgment,” stole six such signs. Unbeknownst to him, at least one of the signs held hidden Apple AirTags, which allowed the signs’ owners to track the theft to Albanese’s garage. The councilman gave the signs back, undamaged, when police came knocking.
Facing a criminal disorderly persons charge, Albanese’s attorney requested a judge dismiss the charges on a de minimis basis — basically arguing the theft was “too trivial” to prosecute.
In court filings, Albanese’s attorney equated the charges against him to be akin to a 1984 ruling that dismissed shoplifting charges against a defendant who stole three pieces of bubble gum valued at fifteen cents.
Superior Court Judge Kevin Shanahan did not make a decision Friday morning, but at moments he seemed to think the threshold for a de minimis exception was high.
The judge pointed to a 1999 case in which a woman was charged with shoplifting after she bought $600 of merchandise but apparently forgot to buy a $12 hair accessory she had left in her hair. Shanahan asked Albanese’s attorney whether the Legislature intended to prevent prosecution of trivial, accidental cases like the hair accessory charge, rather than “affirmative” acts like Albanese’s.
Scott Wilhelm said the signs have little to no monetary value, and thus shouldn’t be compared to shoplifting cases. Hunterdon County Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Paravecchia argued that even if the signs have nominal monetary value, the free speech elements involved meant one couldn’t “quantify something like a political sign for monetary purposes.”
Shanahan asked the attorneys whether the signs constituted “abandoned property.” The judge, seemingly unaware of why Malinowski-related signs were placed a year and a half after his electoral loss, was confused why Malinowski-focused signs were at the center of a dispute that happened more than a year after his 2022 loss.
Neither Wilhelm nor Paravecchia (who is not the original prosecutor in the case) explained the full GOP-infighting context during the hearing.
“So you have some election signs on public property a year and a half after the election that the signs were designed to influence,” the judge said. “That’s not disputed, right?”
Despite the fact the signs were intended to influence timely 2024 primary elections and were placed in the spring, Paravecchia said, “Yes, I believe so, judge.”
The intent of the signs, the New Jersey Globe was told, was to call out the support of Malinowski over Kean in 2022.
Wilhelm argued that because the signs were returned undamaged, the 54-year-old Albanese should be granted leniency. Paravecchia countered that because the theft disrupted the dissemination of a message — the very purpose of the signs — the action was tantamount to the destruction of the signs.