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NEW YORK (AP) — Some evidence that a federal judge had excluded from the bribery trial of former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was inadvertently put on a computer given to jurors, federal prosecutors revealed Wednesday, though they insisted it should have no effect on the Democrat’s conviction.
The prosecutors told Judge Sidney H. Stein in a letter that they recently discovered the error which caused a laptop computer to contain versions of several trial exhibits that did not contain the full redactions Stein had ordered.
Menendez, 70, resigned from the Senate in August after his July conviction on 16 charges, including bribery, extortion, honest services fraud, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He was forced to give up his post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after he was charged in the case in fall 2023.
He awaits a sentencing scheduled for Jan. 29 after a trial that featured allegations that he accepted bribes of gold and cash from three New Jersey businessmen and acting as an agent for the Egyptian government. Two businessmen were convicted with him while a third testified against him in a cooperation deal.
His lawyers did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
In their letter, prosecutors said incorrect versions of nine government exhibits were missing some redactions ordered by Stein to ensure that the exhibits did not violate the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause, which protects speech relating to information shared by legislators.
Prosecutors told Stein Wednesday that no action was necessary in light of the error for several reasons, including that defense lawyers did not object after they inspected documents on that laptop before it was given to jurors.
They also said there was a “reasonable likelihood” that no jurors saw the erroneously redacted versions of the exhibits and that the documents could not have prejudiced the defendants even if they were seen by jurors, in part because they were of “secondary relevance and cumulative with abundant properly admitted evidence.”
Menendez has indicated he plans to appeal his conviction. He also has filed papers with Stein seeking an acquittal or new trial. Part of the grounds for acquittal he cited was that prosecutors violated his right as a lawmaker to speech and debate.
“The government walked all over the Senator’s constitutionally protected Speech or Debate privilege in an effort to show that he took some official action, when in reality, the evidence showed that he never used the authority of his office to do anything in exchange for a bribe,” his lawyers wrote.
“Despite a 10-week trial, the government offered no actual evidence of an agreement, just speculation masked as inference,” they said.
Menendez was appointed to be a U.S. senator in 2006 when the seat opened up after incumbent Jon Corzine became governor. He was elected outright in 2006 and again in 2012 and 2018.