National Legal Association Reprints My Runaway Grand Jury, a/k/a "Prosecutor," OpEd

My copyrighted Times of Trenton OpEd focusing on the cruel indictment/unindictment of two Rider University administrators for aggravated hazing in connection with the death of a fraternity pledge has been reprinted by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) on their Web site.

One of my clients is a well-known Philadelphia-based white-collar-crime attorney and a member of the NACDL's Pennsylvania chapter, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. He's a strong advocate for grand jury reform. As we spoke after I had written the column I came to the conclusion that the circumstances surrounding the Rider mess might be a poster child for the issue. Yesterday the national legal organization posted the entire commentary in their Grand Jury Reform section. I "syndicated" it to them pro bono.

My "runaway grand jury" column also was picked up in the nationally known anti-hazing blog maintained by Indiana-based Journalism Professor Hank Nuwer.

Amazingly, the Mercer County, NJ, Prosecutor's Web site was checked moments ago and Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini persists in displaying only his August 3, 2007 "news release" announcing the indictment of five individuals, including the two victimized administrators.

That "release" has not been taken down from or edited in the "Press Releases," section, nor has a new release been posted announcing the decision to dismiss the charges and the innocence of the two administrators.
"Indicted Forever" was an amazingly appropriate headline crafted by the Times' editorial page editor for my OpEd. I'm waiting to see when the two Rider administrators sue the office and Bocchini. It would take an eighth-grader minutes to edit the original release and FTP it right back onto the "net" so the world could know that the administrators are innocent.

How serious is this office about justice? If and when their Web site is finally changed I hope someone lets me know and I'll post the "news" here.