Protective mother Monica Ciardi will be sentenced today in Essex County Superior Court in Newark under a plea agreement that legal observers say was never lawfully anchored in an indictment.
No one—not journalists, attorneys, or public records custodians- has been able to locate a grand jury indictment from Essex County.
Despite this constitutional failure, Judge Michael L. Ravin is expected to sentence Ciardi under a third-degree plea deal that raises more red flags than a Communist parade.
Ciardi’s agreement was brokered by former Essex County prosecutor turned defense attorney Casey Breslow for a meager fee of $15,000. Not a bad day’s work for the Verona attorney, when it appears she ignored every warning light on the legal dashboard.
The Courtroom Con: Attorney Casey Breslow
The plea deal strips Ciardi of her constitutional rights, including her First Amendment right to speak and her fundamental right to parent her children.
Nowhere in the record is there a clear allocution establishing that she knowingly waived those rights. Without informed consent, the agreement is void on its face.
THE COURTROOM CON: HOW TO LOSE YOUR CHILDREN IN NEW JERSEY
Ciardi was arrested in late 2023 and held without bail. Her alleged “crimes” stem from her fight to protect her daughters in a brutal Morris County family court war waged by her ex-husband, police firearms instructor John Uanis.
The Courtroom Con: NJ Police Firearms Instructor John Uanis
At six feet six and reportedly armed, Uanis leveraged his status to portray himself as a victim.
In contrast, Ciardi — 105 pounds and unarmed — was shackled, gagged, and locked away.
The family court battle quickly metastasized into a criminal proceeding, one riddled with procedural irregularities and deeply unethical conduct.
A Facebook post quoting judicial threats led to charges of terroristic threats. Ciardi’s voice was criminalized to gain an advantage in a custody fight.
The plea deal includes a felony conviction and a “non-disparagement” clause that bars Ciardi from speaking publicly about her case, her children, and even the judges involved.
The arrangement doesn’t just silence a mother — it obliterates the most basic principles of due process, transparency, and justice.
THE COURTROOM CON: A STATE-SPONSORED SHAKEDOWN
Morris County officials used the justice system for personal gain. Monica Ciardi’s case is not just a local disgrace—it’s a blueprint for systemic abuse.
John Uanis exploited law enforcement connections to turn a custody dispute into a criminal prosecution. Local officials, including members of the judiciary, executed the plan.
The Courtroom Con: NJ Judge Peter Bogaard
Judge Peter Bogaard, among others, helped weaponize the bench. Instead of acting as a neutral arbiter, he became a willing participant in Uanis’s vendetta.
Prosecutors bent the rules. The police looked the other way. The courts ran cover.
New Jersey’s judicial system has long operated like a protection racket, especially in Morris and Essex Counties.
Ciardi’s ordeal has revealed that the entire structure functions more like an organized criminal enterprise than a public institution.
The abuse of process, misuse of prosecutorial discretion, and willful abandonment of judicial neutrality point to a clear pattern: government actors using the courts for their private benefit.
THE COURTROOM CON: TIME FOR FEDERAL HANDCUFFS
This case should be a line in the sand. It is time for federal intervention.
Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, newly appointed and under pressure to clean house, should use the Ciardi case as her opening salvo.
Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba
Every actor involved — from Morris County prosecutors to Essex County judges — should face investigation. Some should face indictments of their own.
This is not merely a miscarriage of justice; it is institutional torture of a protective mother. The people who carried it out should not retire comfortably. They should leave in handcuffs.
The violations in Ciardi’s case are numerous and undeniable: lack of indictment, ineffective assistance of counsel, coercive plea terms, and retaliatory detention.
The goal was to silence a whistleblower and strip a woman of her children. The methods were mafia-grade. The perpetrators wore robes and badges.
FROM TRENTON TO THE WHITE HOUSE
This case is already drawing eyes beyond the state. Sources close to the matter confirm that the Monica Ciardi saga has reached 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Courtroom Con: Senator Bucco and Former NJ Governor Chris Christie
Christie’s influence looms large over the state’s prosecutorial culture, and insiders describe him as the kingpin of the legal-political cartel that has long enabled the kind of abuse Ciardi faced.
As Christie attempts a national resurgence, the timing could not be worse.
Federal investigators now have a blueprint. The Ciardi case shows how corrupt New Jersey actors weaponize public power for personal vendettas.
And it shows how deep the rot goes.
WHAT JUDGE RAVIN MUST DO
Judge Michael L. Ravin holds the gavel. Will he wield it blindly or bravely?
He must review the record. He must determine whether Ciardi knowingly and voluntarily waived her rights.
Judge Ravin must question the legitimacy of the indictment — or acknowledge that it doesn’t exist.
He must resist becoming another cog in the system.
Because if this sentence goes forward without those steps, it won’t just be a conviction. It will be a confession — that more justice is dispensed at Satriale’s Pork Store than in Veterans’ Courthouse.
It will be a confession — that justice in New Jersey is dead.
