Newark, NJ – Government prosecutors decided Wednesday not to retry Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez on corruption charges, after a judge threw out some of the counts last week.
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Prosecutors filed a motion with the court on Wednesday to throw out the case after the first trial of the New Jersey Democrat and Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen ended in a hung jury last November.
Menendez was charged with trading his political influence for gifts and campaign donations from Melgen.
Last week the judge threw out the bribery counts related to Melgen’s campaign donations. Eleven charges remained before Wednesday’s decision, including bribery, fraud and conspiracy.
Defense lawyers had argued Melgen’s donations had to be tied to specific acts by Menendez to be considered bribes. That’s a higher standard than the one applied to gifts Melgen gave to Menendez over the years that are the basis for the bribery charges that remain.
U.S. District Judge William Walls’ ruling essentially overrode the jury, which couldn’t reach a verdict after several days of deliberations in November.
After the mistrial, several jurors said as many as 10 of the 12 panel members were in favor of acquittal, leading some experts to speculate the government wouldn’t pursue a retrial.
דידן נצח !!
Menendaz is very pro Israel and supportive despite being a dem. Glad he was vindicated. He is far better than Rokeach’s buddy Booker.
The Obama Administration went after him because he went against them on the Mideast, particularly the Iran deal, and also opposed their Cuba policy. They wanted him out of the way and effectively silenced while they entered into the shameful JCPOA. And they somewhat succeeded – he lost his ranking seat on the Foreign Relations Committee. I agree with Educated Archy #2 .
I followed this case. The gov’s case fell apart like a stack of cards. גרויסע בישות
How many homeless Americans could have been fed and housed with the millions this nonsense prosecution cost..