Leo Hurley Archives - New Jersey Globe

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...

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...

More allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by OPIA

February 10, 2025 3:32 pmFebruary 10, 2025 4:45 pm

More allegations of prosecutorial misconduct have been leveled against the embattled Office of Public Integrity and Accountability after the release of an email the state had spent four years denying existed. The explosive email from then-Deputy Attorney General Pearl Minato...

Judge castigates state prosecutors over evidence disclosures in bribery case

September 10, 2024 5:19 pmSeptember 12, 2024 3:00 pm

A Superior Court judge blasted the New Jersey Office of Public Integrity and Accountability over evidence disclosure in a hearing for the case of Jason O’Donnell, a former assemblyman accused of accepting a bribe while running for mayor of Bayonne...

Appellate court reverses dismissal of O’Donnell indictment

April 4, 2022 10:48 amApril 4, 2022 3:08 pm

A state appellate court has reversed the dismissal of an indictment against a former Hudson County lawmaker, saying that it is illegal to bribe a candidate even if they hold no public office at the time of the bribe. “To...