Janetta D. Marbrey took the oath of office as Mercer County prosecutor at a formal ceremony at the N.J. Museum Auditorium on Jan. 23 .
As the county’s chief law enforcement officer, she leads the 200-member prosecutor’s office. Mabrey is the second African American female to serve as Mercer County Prosecutor, following in the footsteps of Anne Thompson who held the position from 1975 through 1979.
Marbrey was officially sworn in on Dec. 20, after being appointed by Governor Phil Murphy and unanimously confirmed by the New Jersey Senate. She succeeds Theresa Hilton, who was appointed as acting Mercer County Prosecutor last July 2024, following the retirement of Angelo Onofri.
During the ceremony Marbrey said she is honored and privileged to be chosen for the position. In addition to Governor Murphy, she thanked New Jersey State Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Senator Shirley Turner for their support throughout the process.
“I look forward to working together with the members of prosecutor’s office to serve the citizens of Mercer County,” she said. “We will continue the long-standing traditions of professionalism, excellence and dedication that are the foundation of the MCPO.”
Marbrey began her legal career as a law clerk for the Judge Edward Mennetti in Camden County Superior Court. She was hired as an assistant prosecutor by Mercer County Prosecutor Philip Carchman in 1983, and started her career as a trial attorney.
In 1986, she left the prosecutor’s office to join the insurance defense firm of K. Ruth Larson in Edison, where she managed all phases of personal injury defense litigation.
Marbrey was hired in 1999 as litigation management counsel in the Philadelphia corporate offices of CIGNA Insurance Company. Additionally, she worked part-time as a municipal prosecutor for Trenton Municipal Court in from 1986 to 2003.
In October 2003, Marbrey returned to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office when she was selected by Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini Jr. to serve as his executive assistant prosecutor.
She was promoted to deputy first assistant prosecutor in September 2004 and sworn in as first assistant prosecutor in December 2007.
On August 13, 2012, Prosecutor Marbrey took the oath of office as a New Jersey Superior Court judge after being appointed to the bench by Governor Chris Christie. She retired in October 2023, after sitting in the Family, Civil and Criminal Divisions.
Marbrey is a member of various professional associations, including the N.J. State Bar Association, the Mercer County Bar Association and the Association of Black Women Lawyers – NJ.
She was co-chair of the Mercer Vicinage Advisory Committee on Minority Concerns and a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Model Civil Jury Charges.
Marbrey is also a member of the Central Jersey Chapter of The Links, Incorporated; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Epsilon Upsilon Omega Chapter (Trenton, New Jersey); and the Southern New Jersey Chapter of The Drifters, Inc.
Currently a resident of Ewing Township, Marbrey was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. She attended Columbus public schools and graduated from East High School.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in secondary education from Spelman College and her law degree from Rutgers University School of Law.
Gabrielle Marbrey (center) holds the Bible for her aunt, Mercer County Prosecutor Janetta Marbrey, as Judge Thomas Sumners Jr., chief Judge of the N.J. Superior Court Appellate Division, administers the oath of office,,
