SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — The NAACP chapter in Atlantic City is calling on the Atlantic County prosecutor to resign after a failed attempt to convict Mayor Marty Small of child abuse.
A jury found Small not guilty on all charges in December. He and his wife had been accused of physically and emotionally abusing their then-15-year-old daughter between late 2023 and early 2024.
Kaleem Shabazz, president of the NAACP chapter in Atlantic City, said everything was handled poorly from start to finish. He believes the prosecution was malicious and said it has had a chilling effect on younger Black men and women in the city, scaring them away from politics in general.
“When it came out that there was an offer that if the mayor would step aside, that the charges would be handled differently, people viewed that as a way to remove the mayor from office,” he said.
Shabazz is now calling for prosecutor William Reynolds to resign.
“Perception is reality, and the perception of what happened is not good,” he said. “I take no pleasure in this, but I believe that we’re in a stage now that the prosecutor has to remove himself.”
In a statement, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said there’s no evidence that the “prosecution was politically or racially motivated,” and Reynolds said he intends to continue doing his job with “integrity and independence.”