Man sues Essex County claiming he was jailed for two months despite judge's release order

A Newark man claims he was held in Essex County jail for nearly two months after a municipal judge ordered his release. Now, he's suing the county, its corrections department and prosecutor's office for the alleged blunder.

"There’s no explanation why this guy stayed in jail," said his attorney Al Cernadas. "It’s a mystery."

Newark Municipal Judge Erik Acosta ordered the release of Florian Franke, a 58-year-old German national and landlord of a Treacy Avenue apartment building, on Feb. 6, 2023, pending trial on charges of burglary and simple assault, which stemmed from two separate incidents. Nevertheless, Franke remained in his cell unaware anything was wrong, thinking he was being held on the basis of one of the complaints, according to Cernadas and a copy of Franke's complaint against the county.

"When it comes to legal jargon, even though you speak pretty decent English, things can get lost," Cernadas said, explaining why his client never questioned his continued detainment.

Upon his release, Franke learned the charges had been dropped. Furious with having spent time in custody for what he believed to be spurious suspicions, he retained Cernadas' service not to fight his incarceration ― still unaware an order for his release was seemingly lost in the shuffle ― but to challenge one of his accusers in court.

"I said, 'let me look into these things,' because it doesn’t make sense that he spent that much time in jail for a disorderly persons charge," Cernadas said, referring to a legal term in New Jersey that describes a non-felony offense.

Cernadas said each charge was dismissed and expunged in April and July of last year, which was partially confirmed by Sabrina Habibulla, a Superior Court administrator, who said the matters were had likely been expunged because no records of the trials exist.

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Releasing defendants

A transcript of Franke's February 2023 detainment hearing shows Acosta ordered his release on the condition that he avoid the Treacy Avenue building where the alleged incidents occurred, refrain from contacting the alleged victims, report to pretrial services and not commit other violations pending his trials in Newark Municipal Court.

At the hearing's conclusion, Acosta stated, "I am going to ask the court staff to conform the order to my ruling on the record and so sent them over to the jail for service."

Essex County Counsel filed a response to Franke's claim on Aug. 23 denying the allegation that he was wrongfully imprisoned and requested the matter be dismissed.

When a judge orders the release of a defendant, a court clerk is responsible for submitting the order to the sheriff's office for processing, according to Edwin Ortiz, who advocates for current and former inmates through the Returning Citizens Resource Group, and has been incarcerated himself.

"They take you back to the jail, they put you back on the unit and you’re processed there," he said.

After that, the defendant must be released within 24 hours unless a prosecutor appeals the judge's decision. Even then the process cannot be delayed more than 72 hours depending on the appellate court's decision, according to Ortiz.

The Record/NorthJersey.com attempted to confirm the process outlined by Ortiz with the Essex County Sheriff's Office which did not respond to questions as of Friday .

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Man sues Essex County claiming he was jailed for two months despite judge's release order