Organization

Office Units

Trial Division

The Trial Division of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office is comprised of the following sections:

Intake

• Effectively and efficiently screens incoming cases to this office from various law enforcement agencies.
• Recommends the following dispositions: the complaint is downgraded to a disorderly persons charge and returned to Municipal Court; the complaint is administratively dismissed; or the complaint is retained by this office as an indictable offense.

Bail

• Assists Intake in obtaining the necessary reports and documents for initial case review.
• Gathers background information on defendants who are scheduled for emergent and bail reduction hearings.
• Gathers information on suspects in investigations originating through specialized units throughout the Prosecutor’s Office.
• Gathers information on defendants charged with indictable offenses.

Trial Teams

• Reviews, evaluates and prepares the majority of the indictable complaint cases forwarded from law enforcement agencies in a vertical prosecution system.
• Provides legal advice to law enforcement agencies on a 24 hour/7 days a week basis.
• Assists law enforcement agencies with arrest and search warrants.
• Coordinates information on cases with the Intelligence Unit of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.
• Prepares cases for Early Disposition Conferences.
• Prepares and presents cases to the Grand Jury for indictments.
• Extends plea offers.
• Prepares and presents legal arguments in court.
• Prepares and presents cases to trial before a jury.
• Makes sentence recommendations to the Courts.

Pre-Trial Intervention (PTI)

• Coordinates the administration of the Pre-Trial Intervention Program that diverts certain eligible defendants from the criminal justice system into a rehabilitative, probationary type of program.

Grand Jury

• Coordinates the scheduling of cases being presented to the Grand Jury.
• Responsible for subpoenaing all law enforcement officers within Morris County and all other witnesses that are called to testify before the Grand Jury.

Evidence

• Handles the storage of all evidence seized by members of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.
• Secures evidence collected by and previously stored by other law enforcement agencies.
• Coordinates the destruction of all evidence.

Career Criminal Function

It is the responsibility of the Career Criminal Function within the Trial Division to identify "career criminal offenders" and prosecute them.  A career criminal means a person who has a history of persistent criminal activity and whose character and condition reveal a substantial risk that the individual will commit another offense.  Characteristics of race, color, gender, ethnicity, handicapped or sexual orientation shall never be considered as a factor in determining that an individual is a career criminal.

The statutory elements for extended term incarceration and other sentencing enhancements will be utilized whenever possible based on the circumstances and facts of each case.  This will enable the office to punish career criminal offenders in proportion to the seriousness of the offense and the criminal background of the offender.  The Career Criminal Function, with the assistance of the Intelligence Unit, will attempt to directly correlate these individuals and their criminal acts to patterns of criminal activity within Morris County.  There will be a coordinated effort by this function with all Morris County police departments to identify, investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for significant criminal activity within their respective jurisdictions.  The Career Criminal Function is also responsible for the prosecution and continued investigation of career criminals who are members or associates of "organized gangs".

General Investigations Unit

It is the responsibility of the General Investigations Unit of the Trial Division to review, evaluate and prepare indictable complaint cases forwarded from law enforcement agencies (i.e., municipal police departments, New Jersey State Police, Human Services Police Department) for Early Disposition Conference (EDC) hearings, grand jury presentation and trial. The majority of the complaint warrants and summonses referred to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office are processed through the General Investigations Unit. A major component of the General Investigations Unit has been the implementation of the Intake Function. In an effort to focus office personnel and resources on criminal cases, the Intake Function was established in an effort to effectively and efficiently screen incoming cases to this office. The Intake Function Assistant Prosecutor thoroughly reviews and assesses the case and recommends the following dispositions: the complaint is downgraded to a disorderly persons charge and returned to Municipal Court (MR); the complaint is administratively dismissed (AD), the complaint is turned over to another jurisdiction for prosecution, the complaint is retained by this office as an indictable offense.

If this office retains the complaint, a plea offer is extended at the Early Disposition Conference hearing. At this hearing, the defendant may plea to an accusation or an offer for the Pre-Trial Intervention Program (if defendant is eligible) may be made by the Assistant Prosecutor. In some cases, it may be determined that a case can be handled more appropriately by sending it directly to grand jury. In these cases, no EDC offers are extended.

If the case has not been disposed of at the EDC hearing, the case is referred back to the originally assigned General Investigations Unit Detective/Agent for grand jury presentation by a specifically designated Assistant Prosecutor. Once the defendant has been indicted, the assigned Detective/Agent is responsible to investigate and prepare the case for trial.