Paterson Councilman Michael Jackson won't give attorney general passcode for seized phone
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PATERSON — Councilman Michael Jackson has refused to provide the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office with the passcode to let state investigators search his cellphone, which authorities seized in May.
Jackson told Paterson Press on Tuesday that he believes state authorities want to put evidence on his phone to expand their pending election fraud case to include witness tampering charges against him.
“I don’t trust them,” Jackson said. “Why should I give them my password so they can plant information on it?”
Jackson said the Attorney General’s Office already has confiscated the phone of one of the witnesses in the case against him.
New Jersey Superior Court Judge Sohail Mohammed, who is handling the ongoing election fraud case, is scheduled to decide on Sept. 18 whether to compel the councilman to give up his cellphone’s passcode.
At issue is a sealed affidavit of probable cause, which was the basis for the search warrant in May that allowed the state to take Jackson’s phone, court documents show.
Jackson’s lawyer, Scott Finckenauer, has argued in court filings that the search warrant for the councilman’s phone should be quashed because the allegations in the sealed affidavit have not been disclosed to the councilman.
Finckenauer asserted that the state is obligated under the court’s rules of evidence to share with Jackson any interviews with witnesses in the pending election fraud case.
After cellphone seizure: Embattled Paterson councilman says NJ is seeking to charge him with witness tampering
Election fraud case continues: Paterson Councilman Michael Jackson says attorney general seized his phone with warrant
But the Attorney General’s Office argued in its court papers that a Superior Court judge in Morris County, Ralph Amirata, already reviewed the sealed affidavit and determined there was sufficient reason to seize and search Jackson’s phone.
The state said the affidavit was sealed “to prevent compromising the integrity of what is an ongoing investigation (into as yet uncharged conduct and uncharged suspects), separate from the investigation that led to Jackson’s pending indictment.”
The order sealing the records, the state said, was designed to prevent those targeted in the new investigation “from engaging in efforts to destroy evidence, especially digital evidence, or to flee or tamper with or attempt to unduly influence other witnesses."
“Indeed, such potential harm is particularly acute here in light of the nature of the State’s ongoing investigation, which is examining, among other things, evidence of possible witness tampering and hindering apprehension or prosecution — i.e., efforts to subvert the criminal justice process,” the Attorney General’s Office said.
The election fraud case against Jackson has been pending since June 2020. Jackson, who won the 1st Ward council election that year by 245 votes, repeatedly has said he is innocent of any wrongdoing. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in July but was postponed amid the dispute over the cellphone passcode.
Also charged in the attorney general's 2020 Paterson election probe was Councilman Alex Mendez, who also has professed his innocence. Mendez’s trial date has not yet been set He has a court session scheduled for Monday, Sept. 11.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Michael Jackson won't share code to his seized phone
