Bob Menendez, a former New Jersey senator, lost his bid to have a new trial on Wednesday. He had argued that the recent corruption conviction he received should be overturned because jurors had been allowed to view improper evidence during their deliberations.
The decision of U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein paves Menendez’s way to his sentencing on Jan. 29, 2019. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office says that the former Democratic chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should serve 15 years in prison.
In November, prosecutors admitted that jurors had reviewed nine pieces of evidence that contained material that should have been redacted. However, the mistake was not enough to overturn the verdict.
Lawyers for Menendez said that the material without redactions was the only proof linking him to the central accusation of the government, that he had accepted bribes to facilitate the delivery of military aid to Egypt.
His lawyers didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry for comment about Stein’s decision.
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