newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER

NEW JERSEY NEWSROOM

Attorney General Anne Milgram said Tuesday she will use President Obama’s effort to normalized relations with Cuba to seek the extradition of convicted trooper-killer Joanne Chesimard, who has been living in the Caribbean nation since 1986.

Responding to questions from members of the Assembly Budget Committee on Tuesday, Milgram said, "It is critical to get Chesimard back to serve her life sentence.'' Milgram said she and State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes intend to ask the federal government to see if the Cuban government can be approached about allowing Chesimard to be returned to New Jersey.

Chesimard is the State Police's most wanted criminal and there is a $1 million reward for her capture. On May 2, 1973 — 36 years ago — Chesimard shot and killed Trooper Werner Foerster and wounded Trooper James Harper after they stopped a car in which she was riding on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick. Sentenced to life in prison in 1977, Chesimard escaped from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton in 1979 with the aid of four accomplices who posed as visitors and took a corrections officer hostage. She has been under the protection of the Cuban government for 23 years.

“As to the use of medical marijuana, we have concerns from a law enforcement prospective, how to make sure people meant to get prescriptions are the only ones getting access to the marijuana,’’ Milgram said. She also said, “We’ve suggested some workable proposals to the governor’s office.’’

The Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act passed the Senate by a 22-16 vote on Feb. 23 and is pending before the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee.

Milgram also revealed she is seeking $45.8 million in federal aid to finance the hiring of 150 state troopers in 2011 to offset attrition in the ranks. The attorney general said if the aid is approved, she will ask the Legislature for money to help train them. Two classes totaling 107 troopers are set to graduate from training school in June. She said the state is saving $3.5 million by not hiring troopers in 2010.

Attempting to emerge from the shadow of past attorneys generals who were accused of moving slowly to fight crime and corruption, Milgram said she is trying to do more with less.

The attorney general detailed arrests and convictions and amounts of money recovered by the Department of Law and Public Safety at a time when size of its staff has been reduced 10 percent since 2006, including the loss of 256 criminal and civil investigators, a 25 percent decrease, and 159 attorneys, an 18 percent reduction.

"We take seriously our duty to get violent criminals off the streets, prosecute public corruption, protect consumers, safe guard motorists and fight discrimination, among other responsibilities,'' she said. "But we also take seriously the state financial situation.'' The attorney general's proposed 2009-10 budget is $591 million, $18.3 million less than 2008-09.

Milgram said her office filed 966 criminal indictments in 2008, a 47 percent increase. She also said public corruption indictments increased by 21 percent and that more than 200 new prosecutions were brought against gang members, a 107 percent increase. A total of $154 million was recovered from polluters, and individuals and companies that committed consumer fraud.