New Jersey 'Bridgegate' defendants ask for new trial
Source: Reuters
20 DEC 2016 AT 10:54 ET
Two former aides to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have asked a federal judge to toss out their convictions in the Bridgegate lane closure scandal, arguing that the jury was wrongly instructed and that prosecutors had too little evidence.
Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, the Republican governors former deputy chief of staff, filed court papers on Monday and Tuesday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, asking for an acquittal or a new trial. They were convicted on Nov. 4.
Baroni and Kelly were accused of shutting down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, which the port authority calls the worlds busiest span, in September 2013 in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
The blockage created massive traffic jams over a period of days that, according to prosecutors, were intended to punish the towns Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, for declining to endorse Christies re-election campaign.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/new-jersey-bridgegate-defendants-ask-for-new-trial/