Prosecutor: Atlantic City, NJ Mayor — Criminal ‘Trial By Ambush’

An Assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor told New Jersey Superior Judge Joseph Levin that the Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small criminal defense legal team was attempting “Trial By Ambush.”

Assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor Elizabeth Fischer

Told Judge Levin — outside the view of the jury — that the Marty Small legal team was trying to inject a self-defense strategy almost two years into the case.

Levin stated that the defense had previously dropped that claim.

Fischer also argued before Judge Levin that the Small legal defense team was trying to add witnesses that were not on the previous submitted list.

Character Witnesses For Marty Small

The Small legal defense team paraded approximately 40 high profile character witnesses over the previous two days.

The Small defense team employed a shock and awe strategy to try and demonstrate to the jury that Small is a law abiding, non-violent man.

Harvey Kesselman — A Marty Small Character Witness At The Trial

Kesselman is the former, immediate past President of Stockton University.

Years ago, Kesselman saved Marty Small’s college education.

At the time (more than 20 years ago), Small was about to fail-out of Stockton University.

Kesselman gave Small an extraordinary last chance to turn things around.

Small made the most of it … graduating from Stockton with his degree and becoming a Division III All-American standout in basketball.

Small is a member of the Stockton University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Judge Joseph Levin

This is always subjective in nature, however, it appears that Levin is tilting towards favoring the defendant in this criminal trial.

This is a reversal of the pre-trial phase (with former Judge Bernard DeLury) of nearly two years … whereby the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office basically ran the table on both Marty and La’Quetta Small and Constance Days-Chapman, who is the (now suspended) principal of Atlantic City High School.

No Rebuttal Witnesses From The Prosecution

The picture painted by defense team with two days worth of prominent character witnesses (more than 40 of them) speaking glowingly of Marty Small will be hard for the jury to un-hear and un-see.

Closing Arguments

Begin this morning, Tuesday, December 16, 2025.

The jury may be handed the case and begin their deliberations as early as today.

Defense Team Has Already Won The Criminal Trial

But, will they win the jury verdict?

The defense came into this trial with a virtual mountain of evidence against them

Somehow they beat the state throughout the trial.