Overview
- Gloucester County Superior Court Judge Renard Scott withdrew Wendell Smallwood Jr.’s New Jersey guilty plea on Friday, Aug. 7, and denied a prosecutor request to stay the ruling so he could be released to be with his eight-year-old daughter.
- The defense relied on a July 3rd Circuit ruling that found New Jersey’s assault-weapons restrictions unconstitutional to argue the prior plea had become a manifest injustice.
- Smallwood’s federal convictions for COVID‑relief fraud, his 18‑month prison sentence and a $645,000 restitution order remain in place and are not affected by the state plea withdrawal.
- Prosecutors urged that a federal furlough was the proper, faster route but said the process would take too long given the child’s terminal condition; with the plea withdrawn the state detainer was lifted but prosecutors may appeal or refile charges.
- The case underscores how appellate precedent can reopen state pleas and how separate state and federal prosecutions can interact in urgent family and medical emergencies, with immediate human consequences for the defendant and his terminally ill daughter.