Bill > S1434

Introduced Session

This bill eliminates qualified immunity for State, county, and municipal prosecutors who fail to disclose exculpatory evidence in criminal cases. Under current law, as articulated in the United States Supreme Court's holdings in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) and Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972), prosecutors are required to disclose exculpatory and impeachment evidence to defense counsel in criminal matters. In order to ensure uniformity in compliance with these requirements, the Attorney General has issued guidelines and directives outlining the responsibilities of prosecutors in this State to disclose exculpatory and impeachment evidence. The bill defines these guidelines and directives, and any successor guidelines and directives promulgated by the Attorney General related to the disclosure of exculpatory and impeachment evidence in criminal cases, as "Brady-Giglio guidelines." Prosecutors are granted qualified immunity under the State's Tort Claims Act (TCA) and absolute immunity under the State's Civil Rights Act (CRA). Under the TCA, public employees, including prosecutors, are granted immunity unless the employee's conduct is outside the scope of employment or constituted a crime, actual fraud or malice, or willful misconduct. Under the CRA, prosecutors are entitled to absolute immunity if the prosecutor failed to disclose this evidence while functioning in the prosecutor's official capacity. This bill amends current law to eliminate prosecutorial immunity under both the CRA and TCA if the prosecutor fails to disclose exculpatory or impeachment evidence to a defendant or defendant's counsel in violation of Brady-Giglio guidelines promulgated by the Attorney General. The Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) acts as the investigative and prosecutorial arm of the New Jersey Supreme Court in discharging the court's constitutional responsibility to supervise and discipline attorneys in this State. The provisions of the bill require a court to notify the OAE upon a finding, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a State, county, or municipal prosecutor has failed to provide exculpatory or impeachment evidence to a defendant or defendant's counsel in violation of Brady-Giglio guidelines. The court is required to provide this notice to the OAE and to defendant or defendant's counsel within 24 hours of its finding that a violation has occurred.

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Joe Cryan (D)*,  Bob Singer (R), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document