CJ Griffin Quoted in MyCentralJersey Article, “Spotswood Mayor Tapes: ‘The Public Needs to Know’ or They ‘Should Have Been Destroyed’”

CJ Griffin, partner and director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden P.C., was recently quoted in a CentralJersey.com article titled, “Spotswood Mayor Tapes: ‘The Public Needs to Know’ or they ‘Should Have been Destroyed’”. The article discusses an ongoing legal battle over whether bodycam recording footage of the mayor of Spotswood, New Jersey, should be made public or not. The decision will boil down to a Superior Court ruling, deciding whether or not the pubic has the right to see the footage, or if the footage must be destroyed because it was made illegally.

Gannett, the parent company of MyCentralJersey.com and the Home News Tribune, along with a borough resident, have filed Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests for the recordings. The judge has released the recordings only to the attorneys of the parties in this case as of yet.

CJ Griffin, representing Gannett, argues in her brief to the Superior Judge that "the public needs the whole story."

"The public deserves to see every video, as it will allow the public to verify whether the statements Sasso attributes to the mayor in his complaint are truthful," Griffin argues.

"The public should also see and hear the mayor speak," Griffin wrote, "so it can judge whether her statements were 'racially charged,' as Sasso alleges in his complaint, and whether her interactions with law enforcement were proper."

Griffin concluded that the videos "provide neutral evidence of what occurred and the public deserves to see them."

To read the full MyCentralJersey article, click here.