Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 5

-THURSDAY, SEPT. 9, 1999 ASBURY PARK PRESS PAGE A5 will review policies in wake of 'MudmanY killihi ASSOCIATED PRESS 1 TRENTON His skull was crushed and his eyes gouged out in attack witnessed by corrections (Officers who had to wait for reinforcements before intervening. Now state corrections officials the killing of Robert "Mudman" Simon by a fellow death row inmate plan to review their i policies to see if anything can be done to prevent such incidents in the future. An autopsy was started yesterday, but was not completed. It was to resume this morning, said Emily Hornaday, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.

She said no charges will be filed in the case until authorities can review the autopsy findings. Simon's accused killer, convicted murderer Ambrose Harris, was being held in isolation yesterday. The prison was put in "lock down" and inmates restricted to their cells immediately after the attack Tues day. The restrictions were lifted at 2 p.m. yesterday.

Christopher Carden, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said policies requiring corrections officers to call for backup before intervening in a fight will be reviewed. "In light of this incident, we'll take a look at anything that could have been done he said. "But as we can see as of now, there was a response that followed procedure. It was a textbook re sponse. Carden said the policy is designed to ensure the safety of corrections officers.

He said inmates sometimes stage fights to lure corrections officers to the area, where they are then attacked. "You don't want to send lambs into the wolves," he said. The corrections department said the fight was broken up within two minutes, but by that time, the 48-year-old Simon was already dead. John Cunningham, vice pres ident of the state corrections officers union, said nothing could have prevented such a sudden, vicious attack. The incident happened at 10:55 a.m.

Tuesday in the capital sentence unit of New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, where death row inmates are held. Simon, Harris and three other inmates Robert Marshall, John Martini and Nathaniel Harvey were being confined to a fenced recreation area while their cells were fumigated by an exterminator. Simon was sentenced to death in April 1997 after he pleaded guilty to killing Franklin Township police officer Ippolito Gonzalez in Gloucester County in 1995. Harris, 47, was convicted in February 1996 for the 1992 carjacking, rape and murder of Kristin 22, of Lower Makefield, Pa. Gov.

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i By SHERRY CONOHAN STAFF WRITER THE STATE Supreme Court yes-" terday rejected an application by the NJ Conservative Party and let stand an appeals court decision giving preferential ballot positions to the Republican and Democratic parties. The ruling clears the way for the 21 county clerks to proceed with laying out and printing their ballots, with the Republican and Democratic candidates listed in columns 1 and 2. The Supreme Court let stand the decision of a two-judge appellate panel in Atlantic City, which reversed the initial decision by Superior Court Judge Clarkson S. Fisher sitting in Freehold, and held that the Republican and Democratic parties met the criteria set by law to be recognized as political parties with the privilege of the preferential ballot positions. The high court also denied the application of the NJ Conservative Party for a stay.

The decision of the Supreme Court was rendered on a 6-1 vote, with newly seated Justice Virginia Long as the lone dissenter. Leonard P. Marshall, of Neptune, spokesman for the NJ Conservative Party and a plaintiff in the suit as a candidate for the Assembly in the 11th District, said he would like to appeal the Supreme Court's ruling but was waiting for the advice of the party's lawyer, Eugene M. LaV-ergne, of Asbury Park, on whether to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I am most certainly disappointed," Marshall said. "At least it should have gone to a further hearing" before the state Supreme Court. "We will study what happened today and hopefully continue." LaVergne said he needed to review "a few things" so that he could give the NJ Conservative Party an honest opinion as to whether the U.S. Supreme Court would take the case. "It was a very sad day for democracy," he said of the opinion.

"That sounds corny and melodramatic, but it's true. It's beyond me why the Supreme Court doesn't think this is an issue important enough to hear. Judge Fisher wrote a 20-plus page opinion which articulated what the statute said. The appellate division's opinion relies on manufactured revisionist history of how the statute was interpreted in the past." The NJ Conservative Party said that law requires Republican and Democratic parties to poll enough votes in their respective primaries in June to equal 10 percent of the votes cast in the 1997 election for all seats in the Assembly, which neither did. Fisher agreed with the Conservatives and invalidated last month's drawing.

The appellate panel sided with the lead defendants in the case state Attorney General John J. Farmer the New Jersey State Republican Committee and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee who argued that all votes cast for all offices in the primary election not just the Assembly, but any other state, county or municipal elections could be counted to reach the required total. Sherry Conohan: (732) 922-6000, Ext. 7753. Rowan OKs jazz program THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GLASSBORO Rowan University's board of trustees agreed yesterday to establish a jazz program bearing the name of legendary big band leader Maynard Ferguson.

The Maynard Ferguson Institute of Jazz will prepare students at the southern New Jersey campus for careers as performers. They'll be able to pursue a concentration in jazz studies. The institute will establish scholarships and bring in visiting jazz artists. Students must audition for admission to the program. sale 6.99 ea.2or more price break 69.99 SONTIQUE FIBERBED, ANY SIZE.

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