At the core of the responsibilities and duties of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is the representation of the State in the criminal proceedings that follow the return of an indictment by the Grand Jury. Each workday, Assistant Prosecutors assigned to the Superior Court – Law Division, Criminal Part (Trial Section) perform a broad array of litigation functions that are critical to the operation of the criminal justice system. Central to this role is the preparation and prosecution of jury and non-jury trials. Assistant Prosecutors assigned to the Trial Section also represent the State in a variety of other court proceedings including bail hearings, arraignment/status conferences, pre-trial and post-trial motions, sentence hearings, hearings on violations of probation, appeals from the decisions of municipal courts, retraxit pleas of guilty to indictments, and accusations and petitions for post-conviction relief. Additionally, Assistant Prosecutors assigned to this sections are responsible for extradition waiver hearings, the arguing of interlocutory appeals before the Appellate Division of Superior Court during trial, the periodic review of the status of persons committed to State psychiatric institutions incident to criminal proceedings, and the determination of the geographic scope of extradition efforts to be undertaken in the event a defendant absconds.

There are presently 20 judges assigned to the Trial Section of the Criminal Division in Essex County (exclusive of the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division and the Assignment Judge). With the exception of two courts, this Office assigns two Assistant Prosecutors to each Court in the Criminal Division. The Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division maintains a relatively small trial calendar. He is staffed with one Assistant Prosecutor to handle this list. He also exercises administrative control over homicide cases until such cases are ready for indictment as well as maintaining the pre-indictment plea list. He is staffed with two Assistant Prosecutors from our Pre-Grand Jury Unit. The Presiding Judge also conducts some pre-arraignment interviews of defendants and conducts a number of other proceedings as the designee of the Assignment Judge.

Two Assistant Prosecutors are assigned to 18 of the 20 trial courts. The two courts which are not staffed by the Prosecutor's Office are assigned ready trials and bail motions from other courts. The Assignment Judge is staffed with 4 Assistant Prosecutors who are handling the Career Criminal/Gun Strategy cases. There are currently a total of 37 Assistant Prosecutors assigned to the Trial Section of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. These attorneys handle the day-to-day litigation of each court from arraignment to post-trial motions and sentencing. This level of staffing permits one attorney to prepare cases for trial and perform the essential duties of the court while the other attorney is engaged in trial proceedings. This arrangement also permits considerable flexibility in judicial administration by enabling a judge to assign one attorney with a ready trial to the court of another judge who may be free to try a case.

The members of the Trial Section are overseen by four experienced attorneys designated as Trial Section Supervisors as well as the Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor and Chief Assistant Prosecutor in charge of trials. These attorneys ensure the proper implementation of increasingly complex statewide guidelines as well as provide the necessary plea review and approval. They are also available to help other Assistant Prosecutors with trial strategy and to render legal advice. They deal with problems that arise in the daily operation of the courts that require immediate review and meet with the judges as necessary to resolve administrative issues that may arise.

The Trial Section Supervisory staff is also responsible for trying a number of cases that are specially assigned to them by the Prosecutor. These cases usually involve homicides or other complex or serious matters. One of the Supervisors is also assigned to monitor the operation of the Extradition Squad of the Prosecutor's Office. Other supervisors are assigned to handle death penalty litigation.

The Executive Assistant Prosecutor in charge of the Appellate Section and the Chief Assistant Prosecutor in charge of the Trial Section work together to maintain the proper level of both legal and practical training of the Assistant Prosecutors in the pre-indictment and post-indictment sections. The Trial Section attorneys frequently assist younger Assistant Prosecutors as they prepare and try their first few cases.

The Trial Section handles the largest and most serious criminal caseload in the State. Essex County leads the State in the number of criminal filings, and handles a higher-than-average proportion of first and second degree offenses. Given the number of violent offenses in Essex County, many of the crimes require mandatory sentencing under the No Early Release Act that requires defendants to serve 85% of their sentences. This has increased the number of cases that need to be tried by the trial prosecutors.

In 2005, ECPO obtained 186 case dispositions by trial verdict. The majority of these cases were handled by a Trial Section Assistant Prosecutor. Guilty verdicts were obtained in 115 cases, a 62% success rate. Seventy four cases involved narcotics charges primarily; 39 involved homicide charges; and 33 primarily involved robbery charges. Promis Gavel statistics for 2005 indicate that there were 5,728 post-indictment dispositions in Essex. Ninety percent of those dispositions were obtained by the Adult Trial Section.