Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. was acquitted of child endangerment and related crimes Thursday after being accused of repeatedly assaulting his teenage daughter.
Small, 51, faced charges stemming from a handful of incidents in late 2023 and early 2024 in which prosecutors said he and his wife abused and assaulted the teen. The couple said the incidents stemmed from their disapproval of their daughter’s relationship with a young man, leading to escalating tension and arguments in the family home.
The jury returned at 12 p.m. after deliberating for two days. They found Small not guilty of endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, and witness tampering.
“Thank you Jesus! Thank you jury!” Small said as the verdict was announced and broke into tears.
Prosecutors said Small, a Democrat who was reelected this year amid his legal struggles, punched his daughter and beat her with a belt. In an incident central to their case against the mayor, prosecutors said Small struck her in the head with a broom multiple times, knocking her unconscious.
Jurors heard a conversation the teen recorded on her phone, in which Small told the girl he would “earth slam” her down the staircase. And prosecutors said that after the girl reported the abuse and investigators stepped in, Small encouraged his daughter to “twist up” her account of the events to minimize his involvement.
Over the course of a week in court, Small and his wife, La’Quetta — who faces a separate trial on charges of abusing the teen — looked on as prosecutors described the mayor’s actions as criminal. Prosecutors presented photos of the teen’s bruises and listened to testimony from a pediatrician who said the injuries did not appear accidental.
Small’s lawyers, by contrast, told jurors the teen had lied to investigators and exaggerated the extent of her injuries, and that she and her boyfriend had conspired against her father.
Small’s attorney, Louis Barbone, had called the trial “extortion by child.” He said the mayor was a caring father who was only attempting to discipline an out-of-control child, and presented jurors with more than 40 character witnesses on his behalf.
Small also testified and said he loved his daughter. He denied abusing her in the manner she described, telling jurors “I did not hit my daughter with a broom.”
The girl, now 17, took the stand and described being punched in the legs by her father in his “man cave” after her parents found out she had sneaked her boyfriend into the family home to have sex.
“He said some words and put his hands on me,” the teen testified. Her father, she said, “was punching me in my legs and he hit me with a belt.”
Prosecutors said the girl’s decision to testify was one of the most challenging things a teenager could do, and they rebuffed Barbone’s suggestion that the girl was a liar who sought retribution against her politicallypowerful father.
As for the broom incident, Barbone said, the mayor had not hit the girl but was wrestling the broom out of her hands when she fell and hit her head.
Small’s wife, La’Quetta will stand trial in January on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault. La’Quetta Small, the superintendent of Atlantic County public schools, is accused of repeatedly beating her daughter.
Also facing an upcoming trial is Constance Days-Chapman, the principal of the Smalls’ daughter’s high school. Prosecutors say when the teen reported her parents abuse, Days-Chapman failed to notify child welfare authorities and instead told the couple of the report.
Days-Chapman, who is Small’s former campaign manager, was later charged with official misconduct and related crimes.