Mayor Marty Small with his attorney Jordan Barbone.
There are just 10 days until Atlantic City's mayor is set to go on trial, and there is much still to do, according to a pre-trial hearing held Friday afternoon.
Marty Small is accused of beating his then-16-year-old daughter unconscious with a broom, and then urging her to change her story after he and his wife were criminally charged.
Both he and his wife, Superintendent Dr. La'Quetta Small, face criminal charges along with now-suspended Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman, who the state claims did not report the girl's allegations of abuse to the Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
The mayor will be the first to go on trial, with jury selection set to begin Dec. 1.
The judge held a virtual hearing with just the prosecutor's and the mayor's attorney present to work out the pending issues.
Those matters include possibly getting transcripts to a juvenile case.
Details were not discussed in court, as the judge was aware it was being streamed to the public.
Even Small's attorney, Jordan Barbone, was confused by the motion for those documents made by the state.
"I don’t know what we’re talking about, respectfully," Jordan Barbone said.
"Your client testified in a juvenile proceeding," Judge Joseph Levin said. "They (the state) want the transcripts."
The few bread crumbs of information seemed to point to a case in which the mayor alleged his daughter's boyfriend obtained his credit card number.
That same boyfriend — identified in court only as E.L. — is a key witness in the case against both Smalls.
He captured some of the alleged abuse in audio recordings while on phone calls with the victim.
E.L. was cleared in the credit card case, BreakingAC has learned.
Motions before Superior Court Judge Michelle Perry-Thompson concerning those transcripts are due Monday, with a hearing set for Wednesday afternoon. Since it involves a juvenile case, it would not be open to the public.
Perry-Thompson worked to accommodate the state, with an original date set for Dec. 10, which would have been well into the trial, Judge Levin noted.
Levin is working to go through the continuous motions on the case, after inheriting it late from now-retired Judge Bernard DeLury.
He said he has a preliminary list of questions for jurors — known as voir dire — that he would have sent to the attorneys to go over.
"I want to make sure everything is addressed and we’re ready to go on Dec. 1," he said. "I don’t want to be surprised when I come in on Dec. 1, that there’s 16 more issues that we weren’t able to address. I want to make sure anything that needs to be addressed, you bring to my attention."
Levin planned to have at least some decisions on motions Friday, but said that more keep coming in, including Friday morning.
He said he hoped to have most if not all addressed before opening statements, which he expects will happen Dec. 3.
"I want to make sure that the trial goes smoothly," he said. "I don’t want to prejudice anyone."
The trial will be open to the public, although witnesses will be barred so as not to affect their testimony.
Media limitations still are being decided, made more difficult due to expected sensitive testimony by protected minors.
