The criminal case against three Atlantic City leaders was a fabricated attempt to push Marty Small out of the mayor’s office and gain political advantage for the Atlantic County prosecutor and the Republican Party, alleges a tort claim filed Thursday.
The mailing addressed to county Prosecutor William Reynolds and county Executive Dennis Levinson warns of a potential civil suit on behalf of Small, Superintendent Dr. La’Quetta Small and High School Principal Dr. Constance Days-Chapman but gives no monetary amount, as that has not yet been determined.
“The full extent of my clients’ claims and injuries remain under investigation,” attorney Jordan Barbone wrote.
The damage done by the prosecution includes not only emotional pain, suffering, and injury to three former defendants' personal and professional reputations, but also economic loss and damages “caused by initiation of a groundless and baseless criminal prosecution,” he wrote.
Barbone and his father, Lou Barbone, represented Marty Small at his December child endangerment trial that ended with the mayor acquitted on all counts.
The state later moved to dismiss the charges against Drs. Small and Days-Chapman, with Reynolds saying it was in the now-18-year-old girl’s best interests.
He still insisted that “this office investigated the allegations honestly and impartially,” since receiving the referral from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency on Jan. 24, 2024, and that his office was “only striving to seek the truth and ultimately find justice for the aggrieved child victim.”
Reynolds insisted that the girl “testified to her truth, and that truth was corroborated with impartial substantiating evidence.”
Barbone’s tort claim strongly disagrees, alleging “each indictment was a complete fabrication without any factual or legal basis and, more importantly, without any reasonable or probable cause for the initiation of criminal prosecution against my clients.”
The filing not only lays out claims including selective prosecution under the state Civil Rights Act and malicious prosecution, but warns of “additional causes of action, including but not limited to: False Arrest/Imprisonment and Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress.”
“You knew that your witnesses told untruths and that lead Investigator Detective Sgt. Ryan Ripley advised that (the daughter’s) claims were false and that there was no probable cause to file criminal complaints” against either of the Smalls, Barbone wrote.
Lou Barbone noted in his closing argument at Small’s trial that Ripley did not testify.
The filing also follows the claim Days-Chapman’s criminal defense attorney previously made that she was merely “collateral damage” brought in because of her relationship to the Smalls.
Her indictment “was implemented for no other reason than to pressure and coerce Chapman to give incriminating information against Marty Small Sr. that was false to ultimately achieve” his removal from office, Jordan Barbone wrote.
The potential list of defendants includes Reynolds, Levinson, Ripley and Detectives Hannah Piot and Daniel Cho, among possibly others not yet named.
Reynolds said he could not comment as he has not seen the claim.
Meanwhile, Levinson talked to radio host Harry Hurley, giving him a statement that moved to distance himself from Reynolds.
Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson“The prosecutor is appointed by the governor at the request of the state senator,” Levinson said, according to Hurley. “It is called senatorial courtesy. The taxpayer has no control over the appointment. All the taxpayer does is pay the salaries of the prosecutor, his staff, automobiles etc. The local taxpayer is also on the hook for all lawsuits not the state of New Jersey. Some system, huh?”
This is not the first time Levinson has been vocal against Reynolds since the loss at trial.
The longtime Atlantic County executive made his frustration clear on multiple radio shows and in alleged communication he had with Reynolds behind the scenes, leading to Reynolds filing a civil complaint moving for an injunction "to restrain unlawful interference by the Atlantic County Executive in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion."
That did not seem to deter Levinson on Thursday, as he gave his statement on this latest chapter to Hurley.
For his part, the radio host has switched from his once constant criticism of the Smalls to categorizing the prosecutor he once regularly praised as the big loser in this saga.
