Ex-US Sen. Bob Menendez seeks new trial, citing prosecutors’ recently admitted error

NEW YORK (AP) On Wednesday, Bob Menendez requested that a court order a new bribery trial and overturn guilty verdicts that compelled him to resign from the U.S. Senate.

In documents submitted to the Manhattan federal court, the New Jersey Democrat’s attorneys stated that a new trial is inevitable because to the prosecution’ recent admission that inappropriate evidence was placed on a computer used by jurors during deliberations.

In July, the 70-year-old Menendez was found guilty on 16 counts, including bribery, partly related to a claim that he took bribes in return for authorizing military assistance to Egypt.

He is awaiting sentencing on January 29.In August, Menendez left the Senate.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Menendez took money and gold in exchange for favors from three businessmen in New Jersey.

In a letter to Judge Sidney H. Stein earlier this month, prosecutors disclosed that they had found that some factual material that the judge had decided should not be included in a number of trial exhibits had instead been unintentionally loaded onto a computer that jurors used to render their verdict.

Prosecutors claimed in their letter that nine government exhibits were lacking some redactions that Stein had ordered to make sure the exhibits did not violate the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which protects speech pertaining to material discussed by lawmakers.

In their letter, prosecutors contended that no action was required due to the inaccuracy for a number of reasons, including the fact that defense attorneys did not raise any objections after seeing the laptop’s documents before they were sent to jurors.

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The documents could not have prejudiced the defendants in any way because they were of secondary relevance and cumulative with copious properly admitted evidence, they added, adding that there was a good chance that no jurors viewed the incorrectly censored copies of the exhibits.

However, in their filing on Wednesday, Menendez’s attorneys stated that the exhibits included the sole piece of evidence in the record linking Menendez to military assistance to Egypt—a fact that would otherwise be absent from the main accusation against him.

They wrote that despite all the effort and money put into the previous trial, a new one is inevitable in light of this grave violation.

By claiming that they saw the laptop’s contents and gave their approval, the attorneys attacked the government’s attempt to place the blame for the blunder on them.

They wrote that it is ludicrous from a legal and factual standpoint. With only a few hours to examine a laptop containing almost 3,000 exhibits, the defense had a basis to assume that the government had not mistakenly categorized exhibits that were not introduced and that were prohibited by the constitution as admitted. Parties would be encouraged to purposefully attempt to pull a fast one if this were interpreted as a waiver.

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