The mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, is facing a new charge this week in connection to alleged abuse of his teenage daughter.
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr., 50, who was already facing allegations of abusing his teenage daughter, is now confronted with an additional charge accusing him of pressuring her to lie about the cause of a head injury.
The New Charges
Small was charged Monday with witness tampering related to his teenage daughter, whom he and his wife, La'Quetta Small—Atlantic City's superintendent of schools—had already been charged with assaulting and abusing.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office reported that Marty Small, a Democrat, urged his daughter to "twist up" a statement she provided to investigators about his alleged abuse in incidents dating back to December and January.
Prosecutors allege the mayor pressured his daughter to falsely claim that a head injury she sustained was the result of tripping and falling in her room.
Small's attorney, Edwin Jacobs, dismissed the new charge as "sheer nonsense," asserting that Small merely encouraged his daughter to tell the truth about the incident.
"When a parent encourages a child to be accurate and truthful in statements to investigators, that parent is not witness tampering," Jacobs said on Wednesday. "That parent is doing what a good, responsible parent should do. And that is precisely what Marty Small has done."
Jacobs added that the new charge is "one more effort by the prosecuting authority to second-guess my client's parenting and corrupt his relationship with his daughter."
Allegations Against the Mayor
In September, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office announced that Small and his were indicted on several charges, including child endangerment for allegedly abusing their daughter.
According to the Atlantic City Prosecutor's Office, the indictment came following a decision by a grand jury. The indictment also accused Small of assault and terroristic threats.
Small and his wife are accused of physically and emotionally abusing their daughter on several different occasions from December to January. Their daughter was 15 to 16 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.
Small's Initial Response
Following the indictment earlier this year, Small's attorney Jacobs disputed the allegations in a statement saying: "This indictment has absolutely nothing to do with Marty Small's tenure as mayor of Atlantic City."
"There's no charge of corruption or any official misconduct. Marty and La'Quetta Small don't need the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office meddling into a private family matter," Jacobs said. "Marty and La'Quetta are a good mom and dad raising a teenage child...They are totally innocent and will be totally exonerated."
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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