Bridge Jury Ends Third Day of Deliberations Without Verdict
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The jury weighing whether two allies of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie intentionally created traffic havoc near the George Washington Bridge ended a third day of deliberations without a verdict after defense lawyers and prosecutors held a series of closed-door meetings with the judge.
Jurors put in a short day Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Newark, leaving about 2 p.m., apparently without sending any questions to U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton. The panel is weighing whether Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni closed access lanes near the bridge in September 2013 to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for refusing to endorse Christie’s re-election. It wasn’t immediately clear why the panel left early.
Defense lawyers asked the judge to reconsider her response to a question from the jury on Tuesday. The jurors asked whether they must conclude that Kelly and Baroni intended to punish Sokolich in order to find them guilty of conspiring to misuse resources of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the bridge.
Wigenton told the jurors they could convict even if they couldn’t determine whether the motive was to punish Sokolich. Kelly’s lawyer, Michael Critchley, told the judge that her answer was “directing a verdict of guilty.”
On Wednesday, defense lawyers renewed their argument that Wigenton’s instruction was wrong, and that she should give new guidance to the panel.
Because Kelly and Baroni are charged with a conspiracy to accomplish a specific unlawful purpose -- political retribution against Sokolich for not endorsing Christie -- prosecutors must prove that, their lawyers said in court documents.
“This is not a murder or kidnapping case, in which it matters not why the defendant committed the crime provided it is proven that he did so,” the lawyers wrote.
Kelly and Baroni, who both testified in their defense, are also charged with wire fraud and civil rights violations. After a six-week trial, jurors deliberated for an hour on Monday before spending the entire day on Tuesday weighing the evidence.
The case is U.S. v. Baroni, 15-cr-00193, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).
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