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Bennett A. Barlyn, a former prosecutor in Hunterdon County, appears in court in 2010.

(Star-Ledger file photo)

JERSEY CITY — A veteran prosecutor ousted by Gov. Chris Christie's administration waged a fierce battle in a state appeals court Tuesday, accusing top administration officials of corruption and asking the judges to unseal confidential documents that he says back his claims.

Bennett A. Barlyn says the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office was working an ironclad criminal case on a local sheriff and two of her deputies in 2010 when the state Attorney General’s Office swooped in, quashed the indictment, fired him for voicing objections, and threatened another prosecutor to keep quiet.

The sheriff, Deborah Trout, is an acquaintance of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and pitched in on Christie’s gubernatorial campaign in 2009, court records show. The indictment charged that Trout hired deputies without conducting background checks — a potential criminal offense in New Jersey.

Among other allegations, it charged that Trout’s office also gave a fake police ID to a pharmaceutical executive who donated thousands of dollars to Christie’s campaign.

"The case simply died on the vine," said Barlyn, now a teacher in Pennsylvania after 16 years as a New Jersey prosecutor.

Administration officials, including Paula Dow, who was attorney general at the time, have denied the charges, saying that the indictment was flawed and they dismissed Barlyn for "legitimate business reasons."

On Tuesday, Barlyn’s attorney argued before a three-judge panel that there is an easy way to find out who is telling the truth: Release the confidential records from the grand jury that indicted Trout.

"If they want to prove that Mr. Barlyn was not fired in retaliation for complaining about what he perceived to be the corrupt dismissal of the indictment, they should want this information, because it will undermine our case," said the attorney, Robert E. Lytle. "But they haven’t asked for it, and the question is why?"

Arguing for the Christie administration, Deputy Attorney General Jane Greenfogel said releasing the documents would chip away at the long-standing practice of keeping such records secret to protect witnesses and others involved in sensitive criminal proceedings.

But such records occasionally are admitted as evidence in court, and in August, a trial judge granted Barlyn’s request to unseal the grand jury documents.

On appeal Tuesday, Greenfogel said that judge "did not take into consideration the chilling effect it would have on the entire grand jury process … on the witnesses, the targets."

Barlyn "utterly failed" to show why his case trumped the public interest in keeping the records secret, she added.

Superior Court Judge Carmen Messano, presiding over the appeals panel, unloaded tough questions on both sides.

Barlyn is suing for wrongful termination, but the Christie administration maintains he was ousted for proper reasons, Messano noted. "Doesn’t he have a right to rebut that?" he asked Greenfogel.

The three judges also appeared skeptical of Barlyn’s arguments, noting that the grand jury documents may not contain any direct information on why he was dismissed.

"Are there any memos, any emails that involved the decision to fire this man?" Judge Margaret Hayden asked. "Those are much more direct."

After the hourlong hearing in Jersey City, Greenfogel said the judges doled out "an equal hammering" to both sides. Lytle said that with or without the grand jury records, "I’m confident we’ll still be able to win this case."

He compared Barlyn’s case to the George Washington Bridge scandal rocking Christie’s office and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s allegations that Guadagno and other top Christie aides tried to blackmail her.

"In all of the cases, what normally happens is that there is a total and complete denial, an accusation, an attack on people like Mr. Barlyn, that these are some wild-eyed conspiracy theories," he said.

Barlyn is seeking unspecified monetary damages, and Lytle said "the number would be a very large one."

The appeals court was hearing arguments Tuesday only on the request to unseal grand jury documents, not the larger case. Messano said the court would issue a ruling later this year.

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