State of New Jersey v. Kinder
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
701 F. Supp. 486 (1988)
Facts
Deborah Hadley was a letter carrier but worked in the office while on partial disability. William Kinder (defendant) was the acting supervisor of the office. According to Kinder, Hadley was talking with other employees instead of doing her job and refused to leave the work floor to be reprimanded in private. Hadley maintained that Kinder pushed her. Hadley instituted a criminal complaint in municipal court, charging Kinder with a disorderly-persons offense punishable by up to $1,000 and six months in jail. Kinder removed the case to federal court. The municipal prosecutor declined to prosecute. Hadley decided to have a private attorney prosecute the action pursuant to New Jersey Municipal Court Rule 7:4-4(b), which permitted an attorney to appear on behalf of a complainant and prosecute the action if the municipal-court prosecutor declined to prosecute. Kinder moved to dismiss the action, arguing that Rule 7:4-4(b) was unconstitutional because of the conflict of interest between an attorney’s role as private counsel and his role as prosecutor.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Debevoise, J.)
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