The New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the state attorney general is obligated to defend and indemnify the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office in a lawsuit involving a woman murdered by her ex-husband, a police officer.

The court will consider whether the prosecutor's office, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni and three assistant prosecutors are entitled to a defense from the state pursuant to a 2001 Supreme Court decision, Wright v. State. In that case, the court said the state was found to be obligated to indemnify the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office in a wrongful arrest lawsuit.

The justices' decision to take the case, made public Nov. 4, follows an Appellate Division ruling issued in June that affirmed in part and reversed in part a decision by the attorney general's office concerning indemnification. The attorney general issued a decision in 2017 that said it would defend and indemnify what it termed "classic" law enforcement activities but not administrative functions.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, Gramiccioni and assistant prosecutors Gregory Schweers, Jacquelyn Seely and Richard Incremona are defendants in a suit filed in U.S. District Court by the estate of Tamara Wilson-Seidle, who was shot to death in 2015 by her ex-husband, Philip Seidle, a Neptune township police officer. The suit claims the prosecutor's office, Gramiccioni and the assistant prosecutors failed to protect Wilson-Seidle from her husband and should not have returned Seidle's service weapons to him after they were seized.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office asked the Supreme Court to take the case, and the attorney general's office opposed certification.

The attorney general argued the petition for certification raises no unsettled questions of law or questions of general public importance. In court papers, the attorney general noted that Wright discussed the hybrid status of prosecutors—they act as officers of the state when they carry out actions related to investigation and enforcement of criminal laws but also act on behalf of the county when they undertake tasks unrelated to their prosecutorial functions.

"This distinction has been recognized even though if one makes a broad enough argument—as petitioners have done—any tasks undertaken by prosecutor's office employees could be said to relate in some way to law enforcement," the attorney general's office said in its petition.

The attorney general agreed to indemnify the Monmouth County defendants for allegations of failing to monitor evidence of stalking by Seidle, failing to conduct a proper internal affairs investigation, failing to respond properly to the scene of the fatal shooting, and failing to file or assist Wilson-Seidle with filing a restraining order against Seidle.

The state refused to indemnify the county for claims that it failed to properly supervise, monitor or retain officers, allowed Seidle to remain employed, failed to follow guidelines of the attorney general for handling of domestic violence complaints involving law enforcement officers and returned Seidle's service weapon to him.

A spokesman for Gramiccioni did not respond to a request for comment. The attorney general's office declined to comment beyond the contents of its brief.