With multiple allegations of prosecutorial misconduct leveled against the embattled Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, State Sen. Joseph Cryan (D-Union) wants to create a new
Office of Inspector General for Prosecutorial Oversight to review claims that state prosecutors may have crossed ethical lines.
Cryan’s bill calls for the office to be independent of the Department of Law and Public Safety. The inspector general would be appointed for a five-year term by the governor with the advice and consent of the State Senate. Cryan wants the inspector general to have experience as a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.
The inspector general would lead investigations into complaints that a prosecutor or member of his or her team, including detectives, acted improperly.
“Under the bill, a prosecutor or member of the prosecution team under investigation for misconduct by the IG is prohibited from using privilege or work-product protection to withhold information from the IG if the prosecution related to that information has concluded,” a draft summary of the bill states. “The bill grants the IG authority to compel testimony and request documents through subpoenas.”
Cryan has been a staunch critic of the OPIA’s tactics and record.
Last week, a Superior Court Judge ordered the OPIA to turn over internal misconduct records, if any exist, of five current and former deputy attorneys general, including controversial onetime prosecutor John Nicodemo.
Nicodemo, who has been accused of prosecutorial misconduct in several other cases, has been reassigned to a desk job in the state Office of Highway Safety.
Several defense attorneys – all former state and federal prosecutors – have alleged that Nicodemo and others failed to turn over evidence in state prosecutions. In some cases, Nicodemo and others have been accused of lying to grand juries in order to obtain an indictment.