PARSIPPANY — A judge in Passaic County Superior Court threw out an official misconduct indictment against a suspended Morris County sheriff’s officer, Jason Campbell, stating the charges were the “fruit of a poisonous tree” after he was entrapped by a State Police trooper, according to Bergen Record.
Campbell, 36, was accused of flashing his sheriff’s badge to avoid being ticketed during a traffic stop in March 2012.
Superior Court Judge Raymond Reddin explained his ruling for more than an hour on Monday, December 14. “Those offenses and a subsequent driving-under-the-influence charge against Campbell would be dismissed because the stop was designed to coax the officer into showing his badge,” he stated.
“It was a ruse, it was a pretext, it was no different from racial profiling,” the judge continued, at times becoming animated. “It wasn’t a bona fide pulling over of the vehicle.”
In July 2014, Campbell rejected an amended plea deal that would have put him behind bars for two years.
It was reported, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office had been in contact with an anonymous tipster who said Campbell – who had to turn over his badge and gun while suspended on arson charges – frequently was driving while intoxicated and making trips to Newark to purchase narcotics. The tipster said Campbell had a secondary badge he would use if he was ever pulled over.
About eight to nine members of the county prosecutor’s office had followed Campbell’s vehicle on one such trip, in March 2012, and had instructed a state trooper to pull him over if he found a justification to do so.
The trooper told Campbell that he stopped his 2004 silver Dodge Ram pick-up truck because he was having “a little hard time staying in your lane” and that he was tailgating a vehicle in front of him. Campbell explained that he was “on the job,” after which the trooper repeatedly pressed him to produce his badge. This incident occurred on Route 287 north.
Eventually, the trooper explained that Campbell faced a ticket that would result in five points on his driver’s license before saying, “If you have your ID, that would be spectacular.”
Reddin said Campbell produced the badge only after he was essentially threatened and was clearly entrapped. The stop, he said, amounted to an unwarranted seizure of his vehicle and a violation of his 4th Amendment Constitutional rights.
The judge also said it was improper for officers to pat down Campbell’s wife, Jennifer Campbell, during the traffic stop, because she had done nothing wrong until officers recovered pills in her possession.
Jeffrey Patti, Esq. of Sparta, praised the judge’s ruling Monday, saying that it did away with a misconduct charge that carried a mandatory five-year prison term.
Jeffrey Patti, Esq. said “Naturally, we are very pleased with the court’s ruling. In their zeal to settle a political score the Morris County Prosecutor stepped way beyond the bounds of fundamental fairness. The real victor in this is the 4th amendment to our constitution.”
