Smithson also said he was disturbed by the state's decision to make public another indictment on official misconduct charges while the grand jury hearing the shooting case was still in session. The only explanation for that was the attorney general at the time, Peter Verniero, bowed to political pressure from protests on racial profiling, the judge said. Verniero delivered a landmark report on racial profiling to the state Senate, which later confirmed his nomination to the bench. Last week, Smithson dismissed one charge of attempted murder against Hogan after Special Prosecutor James J. Gerrow admitted in court that part of the state's theory was wrong. The remaining indictment against the troopers alleges they falsified records to hide the race of motorists they stopped.
Civil lawsuits filed by the victims are still pending against both troopers.
Members of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey said they would continue their push to have the Justice Department take up the case. Justice Department officials had no immediate comment on whether a federal civil rights case would be pursued. In late 1999, New Jersey and the Justice Department entered into a consent decree requiring semiannual reporting on traffic stops by state police. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.