AUGUST 1, 2015, 11:09 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2015, 11:23 PM
BY JEAN RIMBACH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
From a stinging rebuke by the state’s highest court to Friday’s reversal of the official-misconduct conviction of former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa, it’s been a bad run of late for John Molinelli, Bergen County’s longtime prosecutor.
Although the county’s top law enforcement official has logged plenty of wins in more than a dozen years in the post, his office now finds itself on the losing end of some high-profile cases. On Friday, a state appellate panel tossed out Zisa’s conviction and described the prosecution’s case against him as weak and tainted by prejudicial and improper remarks and evidence.
Only recently the state Supreme Court cited “gross abuse of discretion” in Molinelli’s fight against Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman’s entry into a trial-diversion program known as Pretrial Intervention, or PTI.
Meanwhile, questions about possible political influence in Molinelli’s office emerged this year during the federal trial of former county Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Ferriero, when federal prosecutors referenced a years-old case involving a doctor who was allowed to enter PTI twice and avoid prosecution on allegations that he groped female patients.
What about how Molinelli gave Tommy Boy Rica a pass after stealing at least $465,000 in quarters from Ridgewood, if not over $850,000… he doesn’t even have tho make restitution for the full amount.