Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has asked a federal judge to throw out his corruption conviction and grant a new trial after it was revealed that jurors were accidentally shown improper evidence while deliberating.
Menendez’s attorney Adam Fee wrote in court filings that the “serious breach” makes a new trial “unavoidable.”
“Without doubting that the error was unintentional, the responsibility for it lies exclusively with the government, and the government must accept its consequences,” Fee wrote.
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Earlier this month, federal prosecutors revealed that nine exhibits shown to jurors during deliberations displayed material that should have been redacted, after prosecutors inadvertently loaded the laptop they used to view evidence with alternative versions.
The government said the mistake should not imperil Menendez’s conviction nor require any action, but attorneys for Menendez and his two co-defendants, New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, disagree.
The evidence accidentally shown to jurors was previously barred by U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein. Prosecutors sought reconsideration of that decision and called the evidence “very critical,” which the defense attorneys say strengthens their argument for a new trial.
Fee, Menendez’s attorney, said the accidentally unredacted exhibits contained the “only evidence in the record” that tied Menendez to the “actual, consummated provision” of military aid to Egypt, an accusation at the heart of the charge he faced for acting as a foreign agent of that nation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleoni, meanwhile, previously wrote in a court filing that neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers noticed the mistake and that the unredacted content likely did not impact the jurors’ verdict.
In fact, it’s “extraordinarily unlikely” jurors even “became aware” of the incorrect exhibit versions while deliberating, he said.
Daibes, one of Menendez’s co-defendants, wrote in a separate filing that a 10th exhibit pertaining specifically to him was also improperly shown to jurors. The exhibit, a text message thread, apparently involved a reference to former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler — a detail that creates prejudice to Daibes that “could not be more obvious,” his attorneys wrote.
Menendez resigned from the Senate in August after he was convicted on all 16 counts he faced, from accepting luxurious bribes in exchange for his political clout to acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. He has maintained his innocence and vowed to appeal the verdict.
All three defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 29.
