Former Jersey City Deputy Chief of Staff Phil Orphanidis is expected to take a plea deal where he would plead guilty for refusal to submit to a breathalyzer to resolve a drunk driving arrest that occurred back in September, his attorney said in municipal court today.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
“It’s my understand there’s a possible resolution on this,” Jersey City Municipal Court Judge Paul Scalia said at this morning’s court hearing.
According to Scalia, while a resolution likely in the form of a plea deal is on the horizon, he said he understands from Orphanidis’ attorney, Sebastian Bio, that there are a number of pre-condition steps to be taken before a plea is entered.
As such, both parties requested a short adjournment on this, Scalia said, with a potential outcome at the next hearing in June.
“There might be a possible plea on the next occasion,” Scalia said.
Back in September, Orphanidis, also a West Orange mayoral candidate, was charged with assault by auto, driving under the influence (DUI), refusal to submit to a chemical test, driving with an expired license, and failure to possess driver’s insurance.
At the time, he was the deputy chief of staff to Mayor Steven Fulop and he has since been reassigned as a systems analyst for the city’s Animal Care and Control Division by new Mayor James Solomon, who took office on January 15th.
Bio told Scalia that Orphanidis is set to “plea to the refusal,” likely referring to his charge for refusing to take a chemical test, or breathalyzer as it is more commonly known, a lesser charge.
And as part of the deal, he would likely have to install an ignition interlock device which is essentially a breathalyzer installed in a vehicle, which is not uncommon for defendant who plead guilty in a drunk driving case in New Jersey.
It prevents the car from starting if it detects alcohol over a set legal limit of 0.08 and requires random breath samples while driving to ensure ongoing sobriety.
“It’s going to be a plea to the refusal. And the 4th ought to be enough time for Mr. Orphanidis to be able to install the interlock device consistent with that date,” Bio noted.
Scalia acknowledged that the defense had made requests to do the plea virtually, but he was clear that any sort of guilty plea must be done in person.
Up to this point, Orphanidis has only appeared in court via Zoom and today was the first time he turned on his camera to address the court.
“On these things, as [Assistant Prosecutor Monica] Ms. Cho knows, my standing position is we have to do this in person, just for the simple fact there’s a lot of moving parts, there’s a lot of paperwork,” Scalia explained, reiterating Orphanidis would have to come to court in person next month if a plea was being entered.
While the next hearing was tentatively set for June 4th, Cho asked that the court hearing take place on a Tuesday in June.
As a result, both parties agreed on June 9th at 10 a.m. for the next hearing, with Scalia agreeing to give them priority over other cases scheduled for that day.
“Since it’s a plea, we’ll try to work with you and get you out of here,” Scalia stated.
At his first court appearance in early March, Orphanidis had his case adjourned for two weeks after Bio told Scalia they had not received any discovery.
In addition, they debated having the DUI case moved to another court following an avalanche of news reports on the salacious body camera footage of the incident, which is a public record that was released and panned by the Solomon administration.
Scalia denied all venue change requests at that March 12th hearing, meaning they would have to seek an appeal from a higher court if they still desired a change in venue.
He told Bio the reasoning was that he didn’t know Orphanidis, never interacted with him, and has no problem giving him a fair and speedy trial.
On March 26th, the case was delayed another two weeks after Bio said he only just received discovery the night prior, to the dismay of Scalia towards the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office since he had requested an expedited delivery.
At the time, he said that if Orphanidis is not interested in a plea deal, then the court will proceed to trial.
Then on April 16th, the case was delayed three more weeks after Bio again stated he had only received all of the requested discovery the day before the hearing but had not reviewed it yet.
At that time, he also said they would no longer be pursuing a change of venue.
Orphanidis faces pending charges from when he rear-ended a Tesla in Downtown Jersey City on September 30th, 2025 around 5:30 p.m. and a police officer responding to the scene immediately said he appeared drunk.
The then-high ranking city official admitted to having two drinks, but did not consent to a breathalyzer test.
The police body camera footage of the Orphanidis incident shows him irate at times since the administration hired a large number of new police officers. At one point, he also claimed this was retaliation after Fulop lost the gubernatorial primary in June.
“I’m the f***ng deputy chief of staff of Jersey City. I didn’t do anything f***ing wrong. This is f***ing stupid,” he says while being recorded by the body camera.
While being processed at a holding cell at the police station, he claimed that any elected official would have been let go, fixating on when Craig Guy, then the chief of staff to Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, had a DUI case dismissed in 2019.