TRENTON – Just why hasn’t Al Alvarez been prosecuted for allegedly raping Katie Brennan?

There have been many unanswered questions in a case that has now consumed almost three months of periodic hearings, but that certainly is one of the pertinent ones.

For the first time Tuesday, members of the Legislative committee looking into the matter wondered aloud about the same thing. The catalyst for these reflections was testimony from Patricia Teffenhart, the executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault. In a well-received, albeit very lengthy, opening statement, Teffenhart talked about the criminal justice system failing Brennan, who has said Alvarez sexually assaulted her in Jersey City in April of 2017.

Both eventually got senior jobs in the Murphy Administration. Alvarez has since left; Brennan is still there.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office elected not to press charges against Alvarez in December of 2017. After the case became public in the fall of 2018, the state Attorney General asked the Middlesex County prosecutor to essentially reviewed the work done by Hudson. The Middlesex prosecutor earlier this year endorsed Hudson’s decision not to take the case.

Teffenhart pointed out that the Attorney General’s office asked Middlesex to review the matter, but at the same time didn’t say that Hudson prosecutors did anything wrong. She suggested that this influenced Middlesex simply to go along with Hudson’s decision.

That’s speculation to be sure, but now that the point was raised, other committee members commented.
Michael Critchley, a committee co-counsel, noted that neither prosecutor’s office brought Brennan’s charges to a grand jury.

“Why didn’t that occur?” he asked, adding that not bringing the case to a grand jury was “difficult to conceive.”

It was also noted by the committee that no matter the conclusion, Brennan deserved better treatment, Rather than being told face-to-face that charges would not be filed against Alvarez, Brennan learned the news via the phone and by fax.

Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Bergen County Democrat and the co-chair, noted that when Brennan testified on Dec 4 – she was the first witness – all who heard her praised her credibility.

Teffenhart, speaking more generally, said the overall problem is that a culture of rape, or sexual assault, still persists. She talked about a series of high-profile sexual assault incidents nationally and also of sexual harassment occurring among state politicians.

She said the annual League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City and the annual New Jersey Chamber of Commerce train trip to Washington are notorious for reports of  “confident, drunken men,” groping women or following them to their hotel rooms. The train reference was certainly timely. This year’s train trip takes place the end of this week.

Another witness Tuesday was Charles Sullivan, a Seton Hall University professor and employment law expert.

His only comment on the lack of prosecution was sort of a philosophical one.

“Prosecutors don’t say people are not guilty,” he said. “They say they aren’t going to be charged.”

Sullivan’s appearance was tied to the continuing mystery as to why Alvarez was hired if he had been accused of sexual assault. A series of administration officials have said they never told the governor about the allegation because of confidentiality regulations.

Joseph Hayden, another co-counsel, zeroed in on some of the milestones in this saga. He wanted to know if Sullivan saw any legal reason not to inform Gov. Phil Murphy about the rape allegation.

“Not to my knowledge,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan also said the rape allegation should have been fully investigated by the administration. At times during these hearings, some testified that it wasn’t a job for the administration because the alleged offense occurred prior to Murphy taking office.

Sullivan dismissed that, saying, “It doesn’t matter if the conduct occurred previously or on the job.”

By day’s end, there still was no answer to one of the other lingering questions here – who hired Alvarez?

There has been some testimony about Alvarez being a “political hire.”

That prompted Senator Kristin Corrado, a Passaic County Republican, to ask (probably with tongue in cheek) employment law expert Sullivan what a “political hire” was.

Sullivan hesitated a bit, but then replied that “political hire” was “not a legal term.”

Just about all committee members, who as seasoned political hands must know all about political hires, laughed. It was the best joke of the day.