Paterson Councilman Alex Mendez's election fraud case will stretch into summer
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
PATERSON — The state’s election fraud case against Paterson Councilman Alex Mendez seems likely to stretch into the summer after the Attorney General’s Office on Monday morning asked for a postponement.
What's next
New court date: The next court date has been scheduled for mid-July, more than three years after the original charges were filed against Mendez in June 2020.
What are the charges?: Mendez repeatedly has professed his innocence. The Attorney General’s Office has accused him of seven crimes in the city’s 2020 elections, including registering two people to vote in Paterson’s 3rd Ward even though they didn’t live in the district. He has been serving on the City Council for almost 30 months with the charges pending against him.
Additional charges: Councilman Michael Jackson, who was also indicted in the state’s probe of Paterson’s 2020 elections, has said he plans to take his case to trial as well. That trial has been tentatively scheduled for mid-May.
What attorneys said: Mendez’s lawyer, Paul Brickfield, said he had been hoping that Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed was going to set a trial date on Monday.
“We don’t think this is a great case for the state, and we want to move forward,” Brickfield said in an interview Monday at the courthouse.
But Deputy Attorney General Eric Cohen asked the judge for an adjournment. Cohen, Brickfield and Mohammed spoke in private in the judge’s chambers. Cohen declined to tell a reporter why he requested the delay.
Earlier: Alex Mendez says he’s ready to go to trial in election fraud case. Here's why
How the case unfolded
Charges outlined: An indictment in 2021 charged Mendez with seven crimes:
Election fraud.
Fraud in casting a mail-in vote.
Unauthorized possession of ballots.
Tampering with public records.
Falsifying or tampering with records.
False registration.
Attempted false registration.
Prison sentence possible: The most serious charge — election fraud — is a second-degree offense that comes with a maximum 10-year prison sentence if he is convicted.
Jackson's case: The election fraud charge against Jackson accused him of submitting a completed mail-in ballot for someone while allegedly knowing the voter did not make the candidate selection marked on the ballot.
Also charged: Two other men were named in the original charges filed two years ago by the Attorney General's Office, both campaign workers for 2nd Ward Councilman Shahin Khalique. One of them, Abu Razyen, was indicted on third-degree election crimes in February 2022. Authorities have not announced any further criminal proceedings against the other, Shelim Khalique, the councilman's brother.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ election fraud Alex Mendez case postponed
