Regarding Larry Ray and Bernie Kerik

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Judge will listen to tapes in custody case of former Warren resident
BY MICHAEL DEAK • STAFF WRITER • SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
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SOMERVILLE — A Superior Court judge plans to listen to recordings of telephone calls made by a former Warren resident and an associate of former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.



Lawrence Ray, 49, who was best man at Kerik's wedding, was indicted in January by a Somerset County grand jury this week on charges of interfering with a child custody order in November and December 2005. The order was issued while Ray and his wife were going through divorce proceeding.

Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Robin Yerich had asked Superior Court Judge John Pursel not to allow the recordings into evidence for Ray's trial, which has yet to be scheduled.

But James Wronko, Ray's attorney, said the recordings could be a basis for Ray's defense.

Wronko said the recordings show that Ray contacted authorities after taking his daughter in the custody dispute.

Wronko said Ray legally recorded the phone calls.

New Jersey law says a parent can take custody of a child if it is believed the child is in danger. The law also requires a parent to notify authorities if the action is taken.

Wronko argued in a hearing Wednesday that the court has the opportunity to clarify the state law by allowing Ray's phone calls to a state gaming official and an official in the Department of Criminal Justice's organized crime unit into evidence.

Though he said Ray's calls may not "fit" the requirements of the law to call either a local police department or the prosecutor's office, Pursel said, "I have to listen to them before ruling."

Yerich said Ray "called everybody except the people he was supposed to call."

Yerich said the recordings may "only confuse" the jury during Ray's trial.

On Dec. 2, 2005, Ray was arrested on a charge of violating a custody order issued on Nov. 22, 2005.

The recordings were part of discovery offered by Wronko to the prosecutor's office. Yerich said she had not heard the tapes and was going to visit Wronko's office to listen to them.

Pursel said he wanted to listen to the tapes before ruling whether they could be used in the trial.

Wronko said part of the defense case will focus on Ray's elder daughter's desires to stay with her father and not her mother.

Ray had filed a federal lawsuit in December 2007 alleging his daughter had been the victim of sexual abuse. That case was dismissed in March.

Ray and Kerik became friends during the 1990s when Kerik served as police commissioner under New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Ray has a pending federal lawsuit against the Warren Township Police Department, alleging officers conducted an illegal search of his home in June 2005.



Michael Deak: 908-243-6611; mdeak@MyCentralJersey.com