PATERSON PRESS

Paterson councilman rejects plea deal in election fraud case, says there's ‘no evidence’

Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press

PATERSON — In the ongoing city election fraud case, Councilman Michael Jackson has rejected a plea offer from the state attorney general that would have removed him from public office without requiring him to spend time in jail.

Jackson's decision was made public Monday during a virtual court session in which New Jersey Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed set Jackson’s trial date for Oct. 17.

“I did not commit any crime,” Jackson said in a subsequent interview when asked why he turned down the state’s offer. “These charges are frivolous. They have no evidence against me.”

The case stems from a 2020 election in which Jackson, Councilman Alex Mendez and two campaign workers were accused of mishandling mail-in ballots. Under the rejected offer, Jackson would have pleaded guilty to a third-degree crime of fraud in casting a mail-in vote, the judge said.

Paterson 1st Ward Councilman Michael Jackson.

By taking the case to trial, he faces the possibility of a maximum jail sentence of 26½ years for the five charges against him, with no parole eligibility for half that time, Mohammed said.

The deal would have dropped the most serious charge against Jackson — second-degree election fraud — along with lesser third- and fourth-degree offenses of tampering with records and unauthorized possession of mail-in ballots.

Jackson would have been removed from his City Council seat and been disqualified from ever holding public office again, the judge said.

Jackson was charged with the election fraud crimes back in June 2020, and a grand jury indicted him in Feb. 2021. He ran for mayor this month and finished third in a five-man race.

The councilman expressed frustration that the case has lingered for so long. “It should have been ready to go to trial much sooner,” he said.

Jackson is one of two Paterson council members indicted in the case. The other, Mendez, finished second to Mayor Andre Sayegh in the May 10 election.

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Mohammed has set a series of deadlines for pretrial legal motions in Mendez’s case that extend into the end of August. Mendez also has maintained his innocence. Both men have said the probe against them was orchestrated by Sayegh’s allies in state government.

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. Authorities have not announced any further criminal proceedings against the other, Shelem Khalique, the councilman’s brother.

The state has said the investigation by the Office of Public Integrity & Accountability began when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service alerted the attorney general that hundreds of mail-in ballots were found in a mailbox in Paterson. Numerous additional ballots were found in a mailbox in nearby Haledon. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all voting in elections in New Jersey that spring was done by mail.

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.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.

Email: editor@patersonpress.com