Leroy N. Soetoro
2018-11-28 17:52:10 UTC
http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/politics/bridgegate-appellate-court-
baroni-kelly-sentencing-20181127.html
A three-judge appellate panel in Philadelphia on Tuesday affirmed most of
the convictions of two onetime allies of former New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie charged in the Bridgegate scandal.
But the panel tossed two of the convictions and ordered a new sentencing
hearing for Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni.
Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Baroni, the governor's
top executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
were convicted by a federal jury in 2016 on seven counts each of
conspiracy, wire fraud, obtaining by fraud and intentionally misusing
government property, and civil rights charges.
Their convictions stemmed from their role in a 2013 scheme to cause
traffic problems near the George Washington Bridge the world's busiest
span, which connects New Jersey to New York City in order to punish a
local mayor for his refusal to endorse Christie's reelection campaign that
year.
Under the guise of a sham "traffic study," Kelly and Baroni worked with
fellow Christie ally David Wildstein, then a Port Authority executive, to
reduce the number of toll lanes available to motorists traveling from Fort
Lee, Bergen County, to the bridge from three to one.
This led to four days of gridlock in Fort Lee, exacerbated by the fact
that the Christie allies refused to alert local officials of the lane
realignment ahead of time.
The cover blew open in January 2014, just as Christie was emerging as a
top contender for the GOP presidential nomination, after Wildstein
provided emails and other documents to a state legislative committee
investigating the lane closures.
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly wrote to Wildstein in
an August 2013 email. "Got it," he responded.
Kelly was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and Baroni two years. Both
were free on bail pending their appeals.
Wildstein pleaded guilty in 2015 and testified against Kelly and Baroni at
trial. He was sentenced to three years' probation, fines, and community
service, as prosecutors praised his "extraordinary cooperation."
The jury had found Kelly and Baroni guilty of conspiring to violate Fort
Lee residents' rights to intrastate travel.
The appeals panel disagreed, writing Tuesday that there was hardly a
"robust consensus" that this constitutional right exists, so the
defendants didn't have a "fair warning" that they were committing a crime.
Michael A. Levy, a lawyer for Baroni, said his client was gratified by
that part of the court's decision. "What remains from this unprecedented
prosecution are convictions only for the supposed misapplication of a few
thousand dollars of Port Authority resources over less than one week,"
Levy said in a statement. "We disagree that any resources were misapplied
and are evaluating further appellate options."
Prosecutors based the civil rights counts on a 1990 decision by the Third
Circuit that found "the right to move freely about one's neighborhood or
town, even by automobile, is indeed 'implicit in the concept of ordered
liberty' and 'deeply rooted in the nation's history,' " and was therefore
a fundamental right under the Constitution's due process clauses.
The 1990 decision stemmed from a dispute over a traffic ordinance in York,
Pa.
The three-judge panel on Tuesday wrote that although the Third Circuit had
recognized a right to intrastate travel, other jurisdictions had issued
decisions contradicting that position, and the Supreme Court hasn't
recognized it.
The appeals court, however, upheld all the other convictions.
Defense attorneys had argued that Baroni, as a high-ranking Port Authority
official, had the authority to realign the lanes the bridge, and thus
didn't misuse the bistate agency's resources. The court disagreed, noting
that Baroni "had to create the traffic study cover story in order to get
Port Authority employees to implement the realignment."
A lawyer for Kelly also argued that her actions were indistinguishable
from a mayor who, during a snowstorm, orders crews to prioritize plowing
the streets where political allies live.
This argument wrongly conflated motive with intent and conduct, the court
said.
"Defendants altered the bridge's decades old lane alignmentwithout
authorization and in direct contravention of Port Authority protocolfor
the sole purpose of creating gridlock in Fort Lee," Judge Anthony J.
Scirica wrote for the panel.
"To execute their scheme, they conscripted fourteen Port Authority
employees to do sham work in pursuit of no legitimate Port Authority aim,"
he continued. "That Defendants were politically motivated does not remove
their intentional conduct from the ambit of the federal criminal law."
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark said the government
was reviewing the opinion, adding that he didn't know when the new
sentencing would take place.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
baroni-kelly-sentencing-20181127.html
A three-judge appellate panel in Philadelphia on Tuesday affirmed most of
the convictions of two onetime allies of former New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie charged in the Bridgegate scandal.
But the panel tossed two of the convictions and ordered a new sentencing
hearing for Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni.
Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Baroni, the governor's
top executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
were convicted by a federal jury in 2016 on seven counts each of
conspiracy, wire fraud, obtaining by fraud and intentionally misusing
government property, and civil rights charges.
Their convictions stemmed from their role in a 2013 scheme to cause
traffic problems near the George Washington Bridge the world's busiest
span, which connects New Jersey to New York City in order to punish a
local mayor for his refusal to endorse Christie's reelection campaign that
year.
Under the guise of a sham "traffic study," Kelly and Baroni worked with
fellow Christie ally David Wildstein, then a Port Authority executive, to
reduce the number of toll lanes available to motorists traveling from Fort
Lee, Bergen County, to the bridge from three to one.
This led to four days of gridlock in Fort Lee, exacerbated by the fact
that the Christie allies refused to alert local officials of the lane
realignment ahead of time.
The cover blew open in January 2014, just as Christie was emerging as a
top contender for the GOP presidential nomination, after Wildstein
provided emails and other documents to a state legislative committee
investigating the lane closures.
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly wrote to Wildstein in
an August 2013 email. "Got it," he responded.
Kelly was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and Baroni two years. Both
were free on bail pending their appeals.
Wildstein pleaded guilty in 2015 and testified against Kelly and Baroni at
trial. He was sentenced to three years' probation, fines, and community
service, as prosecutors praised his "extraordinary cooperation."
The jury had found Kelly and Baroni guilty of conspiring to violate Fort
Lee residents' rights to intrastate travel.
The appeals panel disagreed, writing Tuesday that there was hardly a
"robust consensus" that this constitutional right exists, so the
defendants didn't have a "fair warning" that they were committing a crime.
Michael A. Levy, a lawyer for Baroni, said his client was gratified by
that part of the court's decision. "What remains from this unprecedented
prosecution are convictions only for the supposed misapplication of a few
thousand dollars of Port Authority resources over less than one week,"
Levy said in a statement. "We disagree that any resources were misapplied
and are evaluating further appellate options."
Prosecutors based the civil rights counts on a 1990 decision by the Third
Circuit that found "the right to move freely about one's neighborhood or
town, even by automobile, is indeed 'implicit in the concept of ordered
liberty' and 'deeply rooted in the nation's history,' " and was therefore
a fundamental right under the Constitution's due process clauses.
The 1990 decision stemmed from a dispute over a traffic ordinance in York,
Pa.
The three-judge panel on Tuesday wrote that although the Third Circuit had
recognized a right to intrastate travel, other jurisdictions had issued
decisions contradicting that position, and the Supreme Court hasn't
recognized it.
The appeals court, however, upheld all the other convictions.
Defense attorneys had argued that Baroni, as a high-ranking Port Authority
official, had the authority to realign the lanes the bridge, and thus
didn't misuse the bistate agency's resources. The court disagreed, noting
that Baroni "had to create the traffic study cover story in order to get
Port Authority employees to implement the realignment."
A lawyer for Kelly also argued that her actions were indistinguishable
from a mayor who, during a snowstorm, orders crews to prioritize plowing
the streets where political allies live.
This argument wrongly conflated motive with intent and conduct, the court
said.
"Defendants altered the bridge's decades old lane alignmentwithout
authorization and in direct contravention of Port Authority protocolfor
the sole purpose of creating gridlock in Fort Lee," Judge Anthony J.
Scirica wrote for the panel.
"To execute their scheme, they conscripted fourteen Port Authority
employees to do sham work in pursuit of no legitimate Port Authority aim,"
he continued. "That Defendants were politically motivated does not remove
their intentional conduct from the ambit of the federal criminal law."
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark said the government
was reviewing the opinion, adding that he didn't know when the new
sentencing would take place.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.