Recovery Court admission too late for Middlesex County woman dead of overdose

Woodbridge resident Jessica Matrongolo, 31, died of a suspected drug overdose while she was waiting for a state Appellate Court to decide whether she could enter a Recovery Court program.

A state Appellate Court has reversed the Superior Court denial of her application into the program, saying her "untimely death highlights the pressing need for life-saving resources to combat substance abuse in New Jersey."

Recovery Court, formerly known as Drug Court, is a judicial program that suspends criminal proceedings against non-violent drug-addicted offenders if they complete an intensive substance abuse treatment and recovery program. If they do not comply with the conditions of the program, the criminal proceedings will be reinstated.

The Appellate Court in its July 3 opinion called Recovery Court a "crucial resource" and the state Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the program "which combats the hopelessness of addiction with the hopefulness of treatment."

A Middlesex County Superior Court judge denied Matrongolo's admission to Recovery Court because she was convicted of a petty disorderly persons offense, a disorderly conduct charge, in exchange for dismissal of indictable criminal charges of attempting to defraud the administration of a drug test and possession of a device to defraud a drug test. The dismissal was granted with the understanding that she would apply for Recovery Court.

The judge then denied her application without giving her or the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office an opportunity to present oral or written arguments, court papers say.

Matrongolo appealed that decision, and the matter was sent back to the judge who, after oral and written arguments, again denied her application to Recovery Court, ruling that the program is not an option for those convicted of a disorderly persons or petty disorderly persons offense because those sentences do carry a term in state prison.

The Superior Court judge said Recovery Court is only available to those convicted of a crime and disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses are not defined as "crimes" in state law.

Allowing people guilty of the minor offenses would allow Municipal Court defendants to enter the program which, the judge reasoned, was contrary to the intent of the program.

Matrongolo again appealed, leading to the Appellate Court decision.

Both the state Office of Attorney General and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey submitted briefs in the case arguing that the judge had erred.

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office moved to dismiss the appeal as moot because Matrongolo had died.

But her counsel argued that the case should go forward anyway because it "presented an issue of significant public importance to recur."

The Prosecutor's Office also contended that opening Recovery Court to municipal court defendants would "open the proverbial floodgates" and allow "far more participants than Recovery Courts were created to handle."

In deciding to rule on the case, the Appellate Court agreed it had "significant public importance" because "hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents suffer with substance abuse or dependence, many of whom are involved in the criminal legal system, and overdose deaths reached a record high in 2021."

Case law, the Appellate Court wrote, "demonstrates a repeated intent to expand access to Recovery Court."

The program, the court noted, "has always encompassed both prison-bound and non-prison-bound defendants" and has improved the community and the lives of its participants.

Recovery Court's approach has also changed over the years "to encourage positive behavior as opposed to punishing negative behavior," the court continued.

Defendants have many reasons for entering Recovery Court, "including the possibility of expungement (of the charges) or a true desire to overcome substance abuse," the court concluded.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.