Call to drop Khari raps
NOW THAT he’s beaten the manslaughter rap, a lawyer for the son of a former top aide to Mayor de Blasio’s wife wants the remaining charges dropped too.
Khari Noerdlinger, 20, was arrested after he fought off three attackers in Edgewater, N.J., on Feb. 1, 2016. During the fight, he fatally stabbed Savion Lewallen in the leg, cutting a femoral artery.
Noerdlinger is the son of Rachel Noerdlinger, who was a top aide to city First Lady Chirlane McCray. She stepped down from her $170,000-a-year post in 2014 after a string of embarrassing disclosures, beginning with the revelation she was dating a convicted killer.
During a brief appearance in Bergen County Criminal Court on Friday, Khari Noerdlinger’s attorney Jeffrey Lichtman informed a judge that he intends to file a motion to dismiss the remaining charges against Noerdlinger. He is still facing charges of weapons possession and hindering apprehension for removing evidence from the crime scene.
Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Lichtman called for a painstaking review of the lead prosecutor’s cases. He claimed prosecutorial misconduct is rampant in the Bergen County prosecutors office.
“If you think this is the only time this prosecutor and this detective have ever lynched someone, you're out of your mind,” Lichtman said about Bergen County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer and Detective James Costello, who arrested Noerdlinger.
Lichtman said Costello and Grootenboer claimed Noerdlinger had no bruises and therefore wasn’t defending himself when he stabbed Lewallen. They also told a grand jury that only one of the attackers had a weapon.
But a review of a surveillance video of the attack showed that multiple weapons were used. Photos of Noerdlinger’s injuries were also in the court documents.
“If it’s happened here as brazenly and easily as it did, it’s absolutely impossible to believe that they haven’t done this before,” Lichtman said.
Bergen prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Costello could not be reached.
Detectives initially believed the fatal fight was over a drug debt and described Noerdlinger as a violent drug dealer and killer. But prosecutors quickly backed away from that angle at a private meeting, Lichtman said.
The prosecutor’s office quietly dropped the manslaughter charges against Noerdlinger on Sept. 7.
Khari and Rachel Noerdlinger stood by Lichtman’s side outside the courtroom. Rachel held back tears as she listened to her attorney tick off a laundry list of alleged misconduct.
“This is not in any way a celebratory moment that the manslaughter charge was dismissed because it has been the most painful 19 months to watch my son endure,” Rachel said.
Her son, who is out on $300,000 bail, declined to speak to reporters because of the pending charges against him.