Jury selection will begin Thursday in the trial of two former senior staff members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration: Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff.
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Though both defense attorneys had previously sought to exclude the Fulop evidence, Wednesday’s hearing exposed a rift as Michael Critchley, representing Kelly, said he wouldn’t oppose the evidence being included.
Jury selection in the case, widely known as Bridgegate, is due to begin Thursday, with opening statements scheduled for September 19.
The judge also ruled jurors can consider text messages between Kelly and former Port Authority official David Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty and will testify for the government, in which they apparently joke about causing traffic jams to inconvenience a rabbi who had displeased Wildstein. He took a plea deal in exchange for his testimony.
And although Critchley didn’t say the words “Governor Chris Christie”, he made sure Judge Susan Wigenton understood “what I mean when I say the highest ranking officials”. This was supposedly done to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie’s re-election campaign. Defense attorneys have said they aren’t ruling out calling on the governor.
Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark also have a list of “unindicted co-conspirators” – people who they say were involved in the scheme to shut down the access lanes or who helped devise a subsequent cover-up.
The 3rd Circuit’s decision may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Anything you want to do about Fulop, bring it out”, Critchley said to prosecutors. Kelly is the one who sent the now-infamous August 13, 2013 email in which she declared, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee”.
They are charged with wire fraud, conspiracy, civil rights violations and fraudulently using the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, which operates the bridge.
The judge said she would allow the introduction of a video of Baroni’s testimony before a state legislative committee, at which prosecutors claimed he lied when he told the panel the bridge lane closures were part of a traffic study.
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Citing his recent receipt from prosecutors of more than 80 pages of new material, Baldassare asked the judge to delay the start of the trial for another week so he can have time to fully review the documents.
