Atlantic County, NJ Prosecutor: The Truth vs. Atlantic City Mayor & Wife

OPINION - EDITORIAL

Atlantic County, New Jersey Prosecutor Will Reynolds has displayed courage and bold leadership during the prosecution of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, Atlantic City Superintendent of Public Schools La’Quetta Small … along with Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman.

All 3 public employees are charged with serious criminal child abuse charges, as follows:

MARTY SMALL

• 2nd degree endangering the welfare of a child.
• 3rd degree aggravated assault
• 3rd degree terroristic threats
• disorderly persons simple assault.

LA'QUETTA SMALL

• 2nd degree endangering the welfare of a child.
• 3 separate counts of disorderly persons simple assault.

CONSTANCE DAYS-CHAPMAN is criminally charged with:

• second-degree Official Misconduct.
• third-degree Hindering Apprehension of Another.
• fourth-degree Obstruction of Justice.
• disorderly persons Failure to Report Child Abuse.

Days-Chapman has previously been suspended.

Most are incredulous that La’Quetta Small has not been suspended and surprisingly, the state of New Jersey has publicly confirmed that they will take no action until the criminal charges of Marty and La’Quetta Small are resolved.

I can not find another example in America, whereby a Superintendent has been criminally charged with child abuse and is not suspended, pending resolution of the criminal charges.

You would expect this level of political corruption from the local Atlantic City Board of Education that Marty and La’Quetta Small firmly control.

However, you do not expect the state of New Jersey to behave in such a reprehensible manner.

Reynolds has handled the Smalls’ prosecution with fairness and has given both Small criminal defendants leniency in many ways.

Reynolds did not make The Smalls’ do a “Perp Walk,” with cameras rolling and flashing. He could have done this and many/most prosecutors would have done just that.

Reynolds did not place them in handcuffs, with their arms behind their backs. He could have and most would have.

Reynolds did not fingerprint both of The Small’s … he could have and probably should have. At some point, the law appears to require that they must be fingerprinted and processed.

Instead, Reynolds placed the criminal charges of  Marty Small, La’Quetta Small and Constance Days-Chapman on summonses.

This saved all 3 criminal defendants much public embarrassment.

Further, when Reynolds publicly released the criminal charges against Marty and La’Quetta Small, look at the benign headline they wrote:

Atlantic City Couple Charged with Endangering the Welfare of Their Teenage Daughter

I don’t think that any other prosecutor would have resisted the golden opportunity to exploit the fact that the sitting mayor and public schools superintendent have been criminally charged with child abuse of their own daughter.

That required a supreme level of fairness and discipline on Reynolds’ part.

Here is the actual press release that was released on Monday, April 15, 2024, as follows:

No where in the press release does the prosecutor’s office even mention that the criminally charged are the Atlantic City mayor and public schools superintendent.

I’ve never seen that, ever.

Still further, Reynolds did not include photos of Marty and La’Quetta Small.

The public release read like serious alleged child abuse crimes were committed by “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

By contrast, Marty Small has publicly called Reynolds a racist and has declared that all of the political charges against him are the result of racism and politics.

Yet, every action taken thus far by Reynolds has shown great restraint and deference to Marty Small, La’Quetta Small and Constance Days-Chapman.

Reynolds has also displayed tenacity, coupled with overall fairness.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office's Special Victims Unit and the Professional Standards and Accountability Unit have been masterclass in their investigation.

Reynolds also demonstrated significant restraint during the process of serving 5 search warrants upon The Smalls’ residence on March 28, 2024.

Most prosecutors tip-off the media in advance and it turns into a very embarrassing circus for the accused.

Reynolds didn’t do that. Instead, he told no one that a raid was even taking place.

The next time you hear Marty Small attack the prosecutor, Senator Vince Polistina, or, anyone else … now you know the facts.