TRENTON A Republican state lawmaker who voted against an early release process for prisoners during the pandemic has said that the governor has “blood on his hands again,” after one of the inmates released in the fall was charged with murder.
Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cumberland, has been a vocal critic of the early release law signed by Murphy in October after being passed by state legislators in close votes in both the Assembly and state Senate.
Ronny L. Paden, now a Delran resident, was charged with two counts of murder for shooting two people at a party in Edgewater Park in January, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
NJ lawmakers delay vote on police chokeholds, activists seek ban
TRENTON – Legislation that seeks to limit the use of chokeholds by police stalled in the Statehouse in the leadup to Tuesday s anniversary of George Floyd’s murder – and police reform activists were thrilled.
The bill, A4263/S2562, had already passed the Assembly nearly unanimously last June, 72-0 with six votes to abstain. It would clarify that a law enforcement officer who knowingly chokes another person engages in use of deadly force, which is only allowed in limited circumstances.
Activists say chokeholds should be banned entirely, not allowed in circumstances that would justify it when needed to protect the officer or another person from death or serious bodily injury, to arrest or prevent the escape of a violent criminal or to prevent the commission of a violent crime.
More must be done to curtail racial profiling during police stops, clergy members tell N.J.’s top court
Updated May 06, 2021;
Dozens of New Jersey clergy are asking the state’s top court to more explicitly ban racial profiling during police stops, arguing that Black residents disproportionately endure scrutiny that causes “tremendous damage” to “entire communities.”
The Supreme Court should block officers from detaining people who only match the race and gender of a suspect, 66 ministers, rabbis and one imam wrote Monday to the seven justices.
A “description containing only race, gender, or other extremely common features, without more, cannot contribute to a finding of reasonable, articulable suspicion,” the brief said.