The suspect's father had a relationship with an employee in the prosecutor's office
NEW BRUNSWICK -- A judge has ruled there is no conflict of interest in the county prosecutor handling the murder case against an 18-year-old man, whose father was in a relationship with an employee of the agency as the office brought charges against the teen two years ago.
The revelation of the relationship between the teen's father and the woman provided the first brief look into the contents of the sealed documents at the center of recent proceedings in the murder of 23-year-old Christine Huh, a local pastor's daughter. The nature of the relationship was not disclosed during the Aug. 23 hearing, according to an audio record of pretrial arguments.
In April, a hearing was closed to the public and press so attorneys could discuss the confidential documents before Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves.
Jason Molina, 18, of Bridgewater, is expected to stand trial as an adult in Middlesex County in the death of Huh, who was found stabbed multiple times in the head May 10, 2015, in Skyline Towers in New Brunswick.
Few other details emerged from the confidential documents as Molina's attorneys focused on the woman's relationship with his father to convince the judge to disqualify the prosecutor's office from trying the case.
Molina's attorney, Steven Altman, said the woman, described as an administrative employee of the county agency, likely shared information with the prosecutor's office and gave them an unfair advantage.
The woman's conversations with another employee in the office could make that person a witness during the trial as well, Altman said.
It was not known, however, if the woman discussed the case with anyone in the office. The judge said he would not disqualify the prosecutor's office from handling the case based on a potential witness list.
"'May' is not 'is' in my eyes," Nieves said. "So I'm not thinking that I should disqualify the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office from trying this case."
The woman has since been fired from the agency for violating "the rules and regulations" of the prosecutor's office, Altman said. The prosecutor's office declined to comment on the former employee's dismissal, citing the ongoing case.
The "voluminous" documents in question were provided to Nieves earlier this year. He turned them over to attorneys from both sides, who previously did not have access to the files since they were confidential.
Molina's attorney said he plans to use the relevant information in his defense if the judge allows the seal documents in the trial.
Assistant Prosecutor Allysa Gambarella asked last week that the judge keep the documents sealed, saying the information in them is not related to the case. She called the information "hearsay and double hearsay."
Altman, however, argued that keeping the documents secret would hurt his ability to interview people who might help with his defense argument.
The judge decided to uphold his order to keep the documents sealed but modified it so Altman's investigators could use them to interview potential witnesses.
Huh, the daughter of Bong Kee Huh, senior pastor at Praise Presbyterian Church in the Somerset section of Franklin Township, was visiting friends at the apartment building when she was killed, authorities said.
Gambarella said Molina has confessed to stabbing Huh multiple times in the head with a knife while she slept on a couch. On the last stab, Gambarella said, Molina "twisted to make sure that she was dead."
Molina's defense team argued Huh's death was not a homicide but a crime of passion. He faces 30 years to life in prison if found guilty in Huh's death and is being held on $1 million bail.
The next hearing in the case is set for Oct. 27.
Luke Nozicka can be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com or on Twitter @lukenozicka.
Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here.
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