From left: Judge Yolanda Ciccone and James Pfeiffer/courtesy photos

A sitting Superior Court judge, who has held leadership positions on the bench, and the acting Warren County prosecutor, himself a former judge, had their nominations to become county prosecutors approved by the full Senate on Monday.

Nominations for Yolanda Ciccone, 66, to become Middlesex County prosecutor—in the county where she started as a judge—and James Pfeiffer, 60, for Warren County prosecutor, a position he's held in the acting role since early November, each were approved by a 38-0 vote by the 40-member Senate.

Sen. Cruz-Perez, D-Camden, and Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, did not vote.,

Ciccone and Pfeiffer will each begin a new five-year term as prosecutors.

The two nominations were approved during a rare Friday afternoon session done remotely by a 10-0 votes by the 11-member Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, was the only member absent for the one-hour session carried out via Zoom.

Ciccone has worked in the court system her entire professional career.

"You have had a very distinguished career and I am thrilled you have chosen to continue to serve the public," Senate Judiciary Chairman Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, said after introducing Ciccone during Friday's remote session.

Since her appointment in 1991, Ciccone served in the Civil, Criminal and Family parts of Superior Court in Middlesex County. She has been a Superior Court judge in Somerset County since 2006.

Ciccone was appointed to the bench on Oct. 16,1991, by then-Gov. James Florio, and was reappointed with tenure in 1998 by then-Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

In September 2005, Ciccone became presiding civil judge in Middlesex. A year later, she became assignment judge of Vicinage 13, which covers Hunterdon, Somerset and Warren counties, upon the retirement of Assignment Judge Graham Ross.

When making the announcement in 2006, then-Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz, said: "Judge Ciccone has shown her strong leadership as presiding judge of the civil division as well as her work on various committees. She has been a great asset to the Middlesex Vicinage and I am certain she will be an excellent assignment judge."

In the same release, Ciccone said she came to work in the Middlesex County Courthouse in 1976, "just a few months shy of 30 years ago," adding, "I know I leave behind a lifetime of experiences, and I am grateful for the opportunity to begin a new professional life with my new colleagues. I look forward to the experiences and challenges ahead."

Ciccone, who resides in Metuchen, holds a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University's Douglass College, and a law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law. She chaired the Standards for Court Interpreters Committee and has been a participant in the Juror Questioning Model Program. 

Ciccone and Pfeiffer, like all nominees that appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, were handpicked by Gov. Phil Murphy.

Pfeiffer had been in private practice for three decades handling defense and municipal work before he was tapped to replace Richard Burke last fall as acting Warren County prosecutor.

Burke had been in the position since March 2012 and left to join the state Attorney General's Office as an assistant attorney general with the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.

Pfeiffer took over the role on Nov. 1, 2019.

Pfeiffer grew up in a working-class home in Alpha Borough and knows Warren County well, according to the release from the New Jersey Attorney General's Office last fall announcing his appointment.

At the time, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Pfeiffer's three decades in private practice as a criminal defense attorney and municipal prosecutor would serve him well in the new role as well as his extensive knowledge of the county where he grew up and lives.

"With his vast legal knowledge and experience, as well as his commitment to the county, Jim Pfeiffer will be an outstanding leader for the Warren County Prosecutor's Office," Grewal said then.

Pfeiffer received his law degree from Western Michigan University, Thomas M. Cooley School of Law, something not lost on Scutari, who shared with the committee just before voting on Pfeiffer's nomination that the two shared the same law school alma mater.

Pfeiffer is the founding partner of Pfeiffer Bruno, a general practice firm based in Phillipsburg, with a second office in Easton, Pennsylvania, that handles personal injury, criminal defense, municipal law and land use law, among other areas.

From April 2005 through Jan. 1, 2007, Pfeiffer served as a Superior Court judge. He sat in the Civil and Family parts in Warren County, according to New Jersey court records, before returning to private practice.

As a criminal defense attorney, Pfeiffer represented Patricia Rorrer, who was tried for capital murder in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The case was the first time that mitochondrial DNA was used in a criminal prosecution in that state, and Rorrer avoided the death penalty, according to the release from the Attorney General's Office.

Pfeiffer also served as township attorney, as well as labor and tax attorney, for Greenwich Township, and was municipal prosecutor for Greenwich, Phillipsburg, Allamuchy, Knowlton, Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick and Franklin.

During Friday's committee hearing, Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, the lone committee member to present the nominees with a question, asked how they would handle cases of sexual assault, sexual harassment and so-called date rape as country prosecutors.

"I have noticed, during my long time focusing on this issue, what I call … this unevenness in the prosecutors' offices," as far as resources and staffing devoted to these cases, said Weinberg, who has led legislative task forces on sexual harassment over the past year and currently chairs a committee that's looking into sexual misogyny against women in New Jersey politics.  "How would you handle these situations?"

"Middlesex County certainly has been a leader in this," Ciccone said. "I would establish the protocols to effectively investigate such cases in the County Prosecutor's Office."

Pfeiffer said he, too, would commit the resources to investigate such cases.

"These cases require significant investigations," said Pfeiffer. "They are difficult situations and difficult to prosecute. But the county prosecutor must ensure that the rights of victims are protected."

The Senate confirmation vote for Ciccone and Pfeiffer took place at 10:10 a.m. Monday, and was done remotely due to the pandemic that has kept lawmakers and the public out of the Statehouse since mid-March.

From there, the Senate moved on to approve several COVID-19 relief bills, as well as a measure to upgrade penalties for hazing called the Timothy J. Piazza's Law. A similar bill was passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature last year and made into law.