Probation Lapse Cited in Colorado Officer Shooting Death

PATERSON -- A suspect being held in the shooting death of an off-duty police officer had been wanted since June for not reporting to his probation officer, the head of the state's police union said Thursday.

The comments posted by New Jersey State PBA President Anthony Wieners on the group's website suggested that Newark Police Officer Michael Morgan Jr. might still be alive if probation officers had greater powers, including the right to carry firearms, to bring scofflaws back to justice.

The post blamed the state judiciary, which runs the probation system, for failing to track Jerome Wright.

Wright, 24, who police said has lived recently in both Paterson and Newark, and his girlfriend, Nashali Gadson, 19, of Newark are charged with felony murder in Morgan's death during a stickup outside the Sunrise Gentlemen's Lounge on Monday.

"We cannot find someone guilty of a crime, provide a punishment, and then when they refuse to comply, turn a blind eye," said Wieners, who is a police officer in Morgan's hometown of Belleville.

But Judiciary spokeswoman Tammy Kendig said the criticism is misplaced.

"He of all people knows perfectly well that law enforcement officers enforce probation," she said.

Probation officers, she said, are agents of the court.

But the PBA and the probation officers' union are trying to change that.

Wieners' message coincides with a push by the unions for a statewide referendum that would ask if the Legislature should be allowed to move the entire probation system from the state Judiciary to the state Department of Corrections.

Such a move would give the Legislature power to arm probation officers.

The ballot question is necessary because the state Constitution must be amended before the Legislature can act.

Approval of identical bills pending in the state Senate and Assembly would put the question on the ballot.

The Senate bill is co-sponsored by John Girgenti, D-Hawthorne, who did not seek reelection Tuesday.

Judiciary officials have opposed the measure in Legislative hearings, Kendig said.

The PBA post said Wright was sentenced to probation for receiving stolen property. But neither the charge nor the court's decision could be independently verified.

Wright has appeared in state Superior Court in Essex and Passaic counties at least nine times on relatively minor charges, according to a partial accounting of his criminal history provided by the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

He appeared five times on charges dealing with narcotics and twice on charges of obstructing government operations. Wright has also been charged with theft and forgery. Most charges were remanded to a lower court. Two of the drug counts were dismissed at the request of prosecutors, records show.

Wright and Gadson remained in the custody of authorities in Pennsylvania on Thursday and were not expected to be transferred to Passaic County until next week, authorities said.

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