Attorney: Unfair for detective to sit in courtroom during trial

TRENTON >> An attorney for a convicted sex offender wants a judge to prevent the lead detective from sitting with the prosecution team because he will take the stand and “bat clean up.”

Public defender Tom Belksy said his client can not receive a fair trial if the detective, Ah mad Mans ur, sit sat the prosecution table. It will give prosecutors an unfair leg up in his client’s molestation case, he said.

Mansur will be closer to the jury, giving the case his authoritative stamp of approval, and he will have an opportunity to listen to cross examination of witnesses if he sits in the courtroom and assists the prosecutor trying the case, Belsky said.

The issue came up in court this week at a pretrial hearing for Jon K. Dixon, 62, a convicted sex offender with felonies for sex crimes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Dixon, who has convictions for not registering as a convicted sex offender, child pornography possession and weapons possession, is accused of molesting a boy who was 9 years old at the time.

He has rejected prosecutors’ plea offer of five years in prison.

The case is unique because it is one of the few sex crime cases in Mercer County involving a child that is headed for trial. The trial is slated to start in mid-August, and the victim is expected to testify.

And that is part of the problem Belsky has with Mansur, a detective for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Mansur conducted a forensic interview with the victim, and he is also expected to testify about that interview, as well as provide the “framework” of the investigation into Dixon, Assistant Prosecutor Michael Mennuti said.

Mennuti plans to call the detective as his last witness. Prior to taking the stand, Mansur will help the prosecutor prepare the case and ensure its presentation in the courtroom goes smoothly, He will assist Mennuti with exhibits and see to it that witnesses are “on deck,” the prosecutor said, extending the baseball metaphor.

But Belsky is playing hard ball and asked Judge Robert Billmeier to order Mennuti to use another detective to assist in the case. Mansur is a critical witness, Belsky said.

Mennuti said that his office has routinely used office detectives as go-to liaisons in court. He conceded this case is different because the detective is an important witness.

In other cases, assisting detectives do not testify, or if they do, their testimony isn’t critical.

Mennuti told the judge if he rules against prosecutors it would go against “past precedent” and force his office to alter the way they try cases.

The judge did not rule on the matter and is expected decide the issue next week.