DRUG/CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER IN BERGEN (HACKENSACK), PASSAIC (PATERSON ) AND MORRIS (MORRISTOWN) COUNTIES: OCTOGENARIAN SUES OCEAN COUNTY PROSECUTOR FOR MURDER CONVICTION REVERSED BY THE FEDERAL COURT BECAUSE OF PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT

In 1988, Anthony Alongi was convicted along with others for the murder of two people involved in a drug transaction. The government contention in that case was that Alongi and others arrange the purchase a significant quantity of cocaine from the couple. Instead of making the payment, however, Alongi and his co-defendants killed the couple and tossed their body into Barnegat Bay. Although the jury convicted him and some of his co-defendants, the trial court reversed that conviction, citing insufficient evidence. The government took the case to the Appellate Division, where the conviction was reinstated. Thus began a long, torturous appellate process. Ultimately, the case found its way to the Third Circuit, which ordered the release of Alongi and his co-defendants because of prosecutorial impropriety.

In early November, Alongi filed a lawsuit against various members of the Ocean County prosecutors office some of its investigators and the lawyer that prosecuted the case for the government, claiming that they suppressed important evidence and secured false testimony from a material witness.