Jury selection has begun in the trial of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, who is accused, along with his wife, of emotionally and physically abusing their teenage daughter.
The trial was supposed to start Monday, but was moved to Tuesday, December 2, due to the judge’s schedule.
Small, a 51-year-old Democrat, faces charges of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree terroristic threats, third-degree aggravated assault and disorderly persons simple assault.
His wife, La’Quetta Small, a 48-year-old superintendent of the Atlantic City Public School system, will go on trial on a later date, on second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and disorderly persons simple assault.
According to prosecutors, the state has offered Small a plea deal on third-degree aggravated assault charges and, though it was not a condition of the offer, by law, Small would have to forfeit his office, as a person convicted of a third-degree or higher crime in New Jersey cannot hold public office.
In La’Quetta Small’s case, prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison sentence for the school superintendent, an official told NBC10.
The Smalls were charged last year after prosecutors claimed, during the months of December 2023 and January 2024, the pair, allegedly, physically and emotionally abused their teen daughter on multiple occasions.
As detailed by prosecutors when the charges were announced, the mayor was accused of repeatedly hitting his daughter in the head with a broom until she blacked out, and repeatedly punching her in the legs.
The girl’s mother, Small’s wife, has been accused of dragging the teen by her hair, punching her in the chest and face, and hitting her with a belt.
The root of the conflict, according to court documents, was the Smalls’ disapproval of their daughter’s boyfriend.
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