Singer asks attorney general office to review case against Lakewood Rabbi

Senate Assistant Minority Leader Robert Singer (R-Lakewood) wants the state attorney general’s office to carefully review its case against Osher Eisemann, a prominent Lakewood rabbi, and decide if it’s really in the public’s best interests to oppose the dismissal of the 2016 indictment.

“Why there is a vendetta against this good man is mind-boggling,” Singer told the New Jersey Globe.  “I’m baffled why the attorney general’s office is continuing this while there are so many heinous crimes going on.”

Eisemann’s attorney, Lee Vartan, filed a motion last Wednesday alleging that embattled Deputy Attorney General John Nicodemo deliberately withheld crucial evidence and intentionally committed separate Brady violations that require prosecutors to disclose key information held by the government to defense counsel.

Nicodemo’s alleged malfeasance led Superior Court Judge Joseph Paone to throw out Eisemann’s conviction in 2022.  But the attorney general’s office appealed the decision to the appellate and Supreme Court; they were unsuccessful both times.

“This is a tragedy.  Rabbi Eisemann is a good man who has dedicated his life to helping special needs children,” said Singer.  “I would hope the attorney general takes a look at the entire case.”

In court filings, Vartan claimed Nicodemo “misled the jury twice.”

Singer noted that when federal prosecutors failed to win a conviction against U.S. Senator Bob Menendez in 2017, the Justice Department dropped the charges.

“This has cost this man millions that people had to raise,” stated Singer.  “Does the state have unlimited, endless money?  I just don’t understand.”

Nicodemo has faced a number of mishaps.

In an April 2021 court hearing where Nicodemo sought to seal a list of potential targets in a state corruption probe involving cooperating witness Matthew O’Donnell, an attorney representing a former assemblyman facing bribery charges requested a certification from the attorney general’s office that all evidence had been turned over.

But the judge, Mitzi Galis-Menendez, decided she would accept Nicodemo’s word and not require any certification.

In that case, the judge acknowledged that the attorney general’s office made a mistake in court filings that disclosed the names of the potential targets.  The attorney general’s office filed the motion to seal records two days after the New Jersey Globe sought copies of public court filings.

An attorney representing Holmdel in a civil lawsuit against O’Donnell accused Nicodemo of communicating about the case directly to a Superior Court judge without notifying him.

Nicodemo made an unusual end-run around court procedure by sending a letter to Judge Linda Grasso Jones by mail rather than electronically filing it.  Because Nicodemo didn’t follow the procedure, the court staff uploaded it themselves three weeks later, a  spokesman later told the New Jersey Globe.

Nicodemo, who no longer tries cases for the attorney general’s office, has not responded to several voicemails and text messages left on his cell phone.