Jason O'Donnell Archives - New Jersey Globe

Cryan applauds OPIA shutdown, O’Donnell PTI agreement

September 11, 2026 12:30 pmSeptember 12, 2026 5:18 pm

State Sen. Joseph Cryan (D-Union) praised Attorney General Jennifer Davenport for dismantling the embattled Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, calling the decision a necessary response to years of prosecutorial missteps, delays, and courtroom defeats. “There is nothing more important than...

State’s seven-year case against Jason O’Donnell will end without conviction

September 11, 2026 10:48 amSeptember 12, 2026 5:18 pm

A nearly seven-year criminal prosecution launched by the then-fledgling Office of Public Integrity and Accountability is nearly over without a trial, conviction, or admission of guilt, after state prosecutors agreed to let former Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell (D-Bayonne) enter a one-year...

N.J. will shutter embattled public corruption office

September 3, 2026 3:47 pmSeptember 4, 2026 1:29 am

Attorney General Jennifer Davenport will close the embattled Office of Public Integrity and Accountability and return responsibility for prosecuting public corruption to the Division of Criminal Justice, ending a controversial eight-year experiment that produced accusations of prosecutorial misconduct, years-long delays,...

Appellate court sides with Jason O’Donnell, tells OPIA to turn over evidence

July 30, 2026 9:41 amJuly 30, 2026 11:20 pm

An appellate court has narrowed a sweeping discovery order in the bribery case against former Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell (D-Bayonne), but directed the Attorney General’s Office to turn over internal communications concerning a key recording at the center of the eight-year-old...

New Bayonne mayor gets to pick top county officials — and maybe fill an Assembly seat

May 13, 2026 5:38 pmMay 13, 2026 5:45 pm

In Hudson, the county clerk is traditionally selected by the mayor of Jersey City, and the deputy county clerk is chosen by the mayor of Bayonne. Until she was let go at the end of 2022, the deputy county clerk...

OPIA destroyed cell phones of investigators in corruption sting operation

June 26, 2025 5:03 pm

The embattled Office of Public Integrity and Accountability has destroyed the cell phones of detectives who investigated a nearly six-year-old bantam public corruption case against former Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell (D-Bayonne), even though investigators used those phones to send text messages...

Plea deal for ex-councilman involved in Matt O’Donnell sting operation

May 30, 2025 10:30 amMay 30, 2025 3:28 pm

Former Mount Arlington Councilman John Windish has pleaded guilty to bribery charges connected to a controversial 2019 sting operation involving former tax appeal attorney Matt O’Donnell as the state’s cooperating witness in a small-ball sting operation that has proven to...