The Middlesex County prosecutor has taken on high-profile cases.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- The four-day last-summer stretch was remarkable by any measure: On Monday, Sayreville learned the fate of six juveniles charged in a hazing scandal that made international headlines. On Thursday, Rutgers learned that five of its own student-athletes had been charged in a series of violent crimes around campus.
Hectic as it was, it was in keeping with the tenure of the man in the middle of it all. Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey's office has brought criminal charges that spurred change in Sayreville, focused national attention on hazing, and cast a harsh light on two storied football institutions.
Carey's 2 1/2-year tenure has been marked by a series of remarkably high-profile prosecutions and a penchant to take on cases that his predecessors have not.
"Politics plays no role in this office," Carey said.
The cases that made headlines in 2015 will make for trials and verdicts in 2016 -- and it's not all about football. Carey's office will continue to pursue active criminal cases against five current and former Edison cops, part of his effort to reform that troubled department; he's been tasked with investigating the Linden Police Department's handling of officer Pedro Abad's DWIs; and his office is prosecuting Michelle Lodzinski in the death of her son 24 years ago, a case that eluded his predecessors and is set for a January trial.
In an interview, Carey said that the principles he learned early in his career helped him make decisions that are based on public safety, not politics.
"When I was hired by (Manhattan District Attorney Robert) Morgenthau, Chris Christie and again appointed by the Governor, I was told there was one rule -- do the right thing," Carey said.
Carey's work has earned him accolades, including from the man who tapped him first as an assistant prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office and then as county prosecutor: When the hazing scandal first broke, Gov. Christie said he was shocked by the allegations but confident in Carey, an assistant prosecutor when Christie was U.S. attorney and a "really smart, strong prosecutor."
The cases have also stoked criticism from some defense attorneys, who say that Carey's office, as it has dealt with the limelight, has become increasingly sensitive to scrutiny -- with a tendency to take things personally, or to make them personal. They spoke to NJ Advance Media on the condition of anonymity to avoid aggravating a powerful fellow lawyer at a time when things already seem less collegial.
All the while, Carey's office has gained a reputation as one of the more tight-lipped in the state.
John Paff, an open government advocate, said Carey's office was as secretive as many other law enforcement agencies, but more aggressive in pressing their case.
"They consider it their information," Paff said of the prosecutor's office here and elsewhere. "There is no positive benefit that they can see; they don't recognize the public getting access to information as in any way beneficial to their interests."
Prosecutor Andrew Carey in an October 2015 interview. (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) In one instance, Carey's office took news organizations to court -- including NJ Advance Media -- to keep information about a police-involved shooting private. Carey argued that privacy was paramount. The Columbia Journalism Review calls such legal maneuvers by the government against news organizations "noxious to transparency and accountability," and the prosecutor's filing was rejected, even as a judge agreed with Carey that much of the information was too sensitive to release. .
"I have no problem with transparent government, but in order to do our job and preserve the integrity of our cases and the rights and safety of our citizens, particularly the victims, we can't disclose everything we know," Carey said. "That's why it is so important to reach out to the community before things happen and build trust."
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2015/08/sayreville_hazing_case_convictions.html
Carey, a political independent, was appointed as acting prosecutor in March 2013. He was approved by the Senate in June 2014. He's been a prosecutor all his professional life -- first, at the district attorney's in Manhattan from 1996 to 2005, and then at the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey, where he was the head of drug enforcement prosecutions. He went to Dickinson Law in Pennsylvania, and got his bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from American University in Washington D.C.
A former law professor said he's not surprised to hear that Carey has gained a reputation as a maverick. Carey was always comfortable and authentic, said Gary Gildin, now the interim dean at Dickinson Law, part of the Pennsylvania state university system.
"You have to be so comfortable in your own skin that you just present the information to judges and jurors with your authentic self," Gildin said.
Carey, for one, loves the fact that he's a prosecutor.
"That's all I've wanted to be," Carey said. "My wife is also a lawyer. She told me early on in our careers that I have the luxury of doing the right thing (for me), doing what I love to do."
Carey said becoming a county prosecutor has been an experience with a learning curve.
"When I first got here, I didn't even know where the office was," he said with a laugh. (It's down the block from the Paterson Street county courthouse, as Carey soon learned: because he misses courtroom action, he often sits in on cases that his assistant prosecutors are working.)
The scandal in the Rutgers football program has grown since the charges were originally announced. Four current and former players have been charged in a series of home invasions targeting fellow Rutgers students; five others were charged in an alleged assault on Delafield Street. They were indicted earlier this month.
But no case has received as much attention as the Sayreville hazing scandal. The schools superintendent was lauded for canceling the season, but he did so only after consulting with Carey, who later would charge seven juveniles with offenses ranging from sexual assault to hazing.
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/06/middlesex_county_has_a_new_prosecutor.html
With the attention has come controversy, and a bitter feud with two of the juveniles' defense attorneys, one that could be hashed out for years to come in litigation.
"The way they handled the Sayreville case was not their finest hour," said Richard Klein, an attorney for one of the defendants. Klein declined to elaborate, but said in a previous written statement that the prosecutor's office added obstruction charges against his client only after he wouldn't take a plea deal, and questioned Carey's statement that the facts it had alleged were "proven in the court of law."
On the contrary, said Christopher Kuberiet, Carey's first assistant: "This office is extraordinarily proud of the way we handled the Sayreville matter."
The conclusion of the cases led to a frenzied effort to control the narrative of what happened: Six juveniles either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of offenses ranging from hazing to simple assault to criminal restraint based on what happened in the football locker room. One case remains outstanding.
Andrew Carey speaks before being sworn-in as Middlesex County Prosecutor at the Middlesex County Administration Building. 6/27/14 New Brunswick, NJ (Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger) "The community of Sayreville needs to know that these serious crimes occurred, and now must work together to heal," Carey said at the time.
When he isn't working, Carey is with his family. He has two children, a son and daughter, one in middle school and one in high school.
"I get up about 5 a.m. and work out because I don't have time to do it later in the day," the prosecutor said. "I'm involved with my kids in some community events. We play sports. It's fun. "
But, he admits, he has a police radio at home and brings work home with him.
"There's no real dividing line," Carey said.
Carey said he has some real concerns about the stresses placed on those in law enforcement theses days by people, some with their own motives.
"People work in this office because they love what they do. They aren't in it for the money," he said. "We're at a difficult point in this country. Dealing with bad guys is not the stressful part of the job. Being under constant attack and scrutiny and being wrongly accused of having different motives is."
NJ Advance Media reporter Brian Amaral contributed to this report.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.