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New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced, in a statement issued Wednesday, that the Division on Civil Rights will investigate the allegations of discrimination in Millville Municipal Court made by Judge Jason Witcher.
In December, Witcher alleged that a disproportionate number of Latino defendants were required to appear for court in person, while others were allowed to appear virtually. According to Peter McAleer, the director of communications and community relations at the Administrative Office of the Courts, the judiciary first learned of Witcher’s allegations through an outside agency on Dec. 6. McAleer said the judiciary immediately began a comprehensive investigation to determine whether the allegations are true.
“Since the beginning of its investigation, the Judiciary has encouraged the Division on Civil Rights to conduct its own investigation into this issue and is fully cooperating in the effort to uncover the facts regarding allegations of discriminatory scheduling practices in Millville Municipal Court,” stated McAleer.
“The Division on Civil Rights is investigating allegations of discrimination involving the Millville Municipal Court,” Platkin said in a statement. “The investigation will also encompass whether any person or entity has engaged in unlawful retaliation in response to those allegations.”
“The Division is committed to conducting a full, fair, and independent investigation, and will not comment further while the investigation remains ongoing,” Platkin said.
The DCR, the state agency charged with protecting the civil rights of New Jersey residents, is under new leadership. Sundeep Iyer, previously an adviser to the attorney general and a Big Law senior associate, recently replaced Supreme Court Justice Rachel Wainer Apter as director.
“The judiciary has completed part of its investigation into Judge Witcher’s allegations,” McAleer said. “It has reviewed each of the 258 cases on Judge Witcher’s Dec. 5 docket, a date which Witcher called ‘the most discriminatory thing I have ever been a part of.’
“The review revealed that each matter was scheduled appropriately and without discrimination,” McAleer stated. “Many were serious cases, or cases that involved multiple adjournments, for which appearances in court were mandatory.”
Last month, Witcher’s virtual court session was canceled by Vicinage 15 leadership over the judge’s repeated failure to review his court docket to determine whether discrimination was actually occurring, according to McAleer.
“Despite continually alleging from the bench and in interviews with the press that discriminatory scheduling practices were occurring in his courtroom, Judge Witcher has ignored repeated requests from his supervising judge, dating back to Dec. 21, to review court docket lists in advance to ensure court cases are being scheduled appropriately, emails released by the Administrative Office of the Courts show,” McAleer said.
The emails released by the judiciary appear to show Thomas North, presiding judge of Vicinage 15 municipal courts, growing frustrated as he repeatedly asked Witcher to review his dockets and point out specific instances of alleged discrimination.
“If there are difficulties in scheduling cases, or disparate treatment, or anomalies in scheduling, we want to correct any problems we see,” North wrote in a Jan. 10 email to Witcher, who became Millville’s first Black judge in 2017. “But I haven’t seen any problems, and I invited you to point them out to me. You have not.”
“Supreme Court orders and judiciary policy establish which types of hearings should be handled in person and which can be handled remotely,” McAleer said. “It is the responsibility of each municipal court judge and their staff to ensure that the policy is followed and applied equitably when scheduling cases.”
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