Judge reprimands Alina Habba’s office for ‘embarrassing’ case against New Jersey mayor
Story by Alex Woodward • 15h
A federal judge tore into New Jersey prosecutors over the high-profile arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka outside an immigration detention center earlier this month only to dismiss the case against him days later.
Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, Trump’s personal attorney, appeared on Fox News on May 9 shortly after federal agents arrested Baraka during a protest outside the facility, which has been the site of ongoing demonstrations demanding transparency about the conditions inside.
Baraka was charged with trespassing, but Habba announced on May 19 that she was dropping the case “for the sake of moving forward.”
Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa called the ordeal an “embarrassing retraction.”
Baraka’s “hasty arrest” followed by Habba’s dismissal of the charges two weeks later “suggests a worrying misstep by your office,” Espinosa said during a hearing on Wednesday.
“An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action, carrying significant reputational and personal consequences, and it should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence,” Espinosa added.
Habba was not present for the hearing. The judge — directing his comments to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Demanovich — said he had first learned of the intent to dismiss the case through press reports, not from prosecutors themselves.
“Your office must operate with a higher standard than that,” Espinosa said.
“Federal prosecutors serve a single paramount client: justice itself,” the judge added. “Your role is not to secure convictions at all costs, nor to satisfy public clamor, nor to advance political agendas.”
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