A New Jersey appellate panel ruled that county prosecutors do not have to turn over underlying evidence from ongoing internal affairs investigations into police officers before those investigations are complete.

Background

The decision stems from a consolidated appeal involving seven defendants in Passaic County. In each case, prosecutors sent standard notification letters — known as Giglio letters — informing defense attorneys that an involved police officer was subject to a pending investigation regarding truthfulness, bias, or integrity.

A trial court judge had previously ordered the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office to release the full internal affairs files behind those notifications and struck down protective orders that limited how defense attorneys could share the initial letters.

Ruling

In a published opinion, the three-judge Appellate Division panel reversed the lower court’s directive compelling immediate release of the active files, while affirming the decision to throw out the protective orders as overly broad.

Under guidelines established in 2019 by the New Jersey Attorney General, prosecutors must notify criminal defendants when a law enforcement witness faces misconduct allegations affecting their credibility. However, internal affairs files remain confidential under state policy while an inquiry is actively underway.

The appellate panel found that forcing prosecutors to automatically disclose raw investigative files for pending cases creates risks to the internal affairs process and could prematurely harm officer reputations over unsubstantiated claims.

The judges noted that defendants seeking active file details must instead follow an established judicial process: filing a specific court motion requesting an in camera review, where a judge privately inspects the confidential records to determine if relevant impeachment evidence exists before releasing anything to the defense.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.