TRENTON — A State Police trooper who was disciplined in connection with the beating of a mentally disabled man contends officials broke the law by waiting too long to punish him, and has filed a lawsuit seeking dismissal of the charges.

Trooper Keith Juckett said in the suit filed last month in state Superior Court in Mercer County that the State Police failed to charge him within 45 days after internal affairs substantiated the allegations.

State law requires the State Police to file disciplinary charges against troopers within 45 days after obtaining "sufficient information" to substantiate the complaint.

The state Supreme Court found in a past ruling that the clock starts in such instances when a case is given to the superintendent for review.

The law, signed in 2002, is intended to protect troopers from unreasonable delays in disciplinary proceedings, which can hold up career advancement or delay retirement.

The State Police have said they substantiated the charges against Juckett and another trooper, Staff Sgt. Richard Wambold Jr., on March 23 for their roles in an incident stemming from a traffic stop in 2009 involving James Bayliss of Hackettstown.

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No action was taken against the troopers until they were administratively charged on June 1, one day after The Star-Ledger informed the State Police and state Attorney General's Office that it planned to publish new details in the incident and post a video of it on the newspaper's website, NJ.com.

State officials have not said why 71 days elapsed from the time the case was completed until the charges were filed.

Court documents show Deputy Attorney General Victor DiFrancesco Jr., a member of the Office of Law Enforcement Professional Standards, which is an independent watchdog of State Police, completed a legal review of the case June 1 and sent it back to internal affairs.

The charges were approved the same day by the head of internal affairs and by Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes. Juckett and Wambold were served with the charges days later.

Vincent Nuzzi, an attorney for Juckett, and the Attorney General’s Office declined comment on the suit, which was filed Jan. 4.

Court documents show Nuzzi is most likely to contend that the State Police inappropriately delayed the start of the 45-day clock by not immediately sending the completed case to the superintendent.

Juckett was charged with the use of excessive force by dragging Bayliss to a patrol car with the help of Wambold and shoving him in the back seat. He also faces charges for failing to tell Wambold that Bayliss suffered from a traumatic brain injury as the result of a serious car accident.

Wambold was charged with using excessive force for throwing Bayliss to the ground and punching him several times in the face during the stop. His attorney, Charles Sciarra, also claims the State Police violated the 45-day rule and has asked that the charges be dismissed.

Neither trooper was criminally charged in connection with the incident, and both deny any wrongdoing.

Bayliss has sued the State Police and both troopers in federal court for damages stemming from the incident. Court records show a mediation session last week failed to arrive at a settlement.

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