The Bridgegate jury was back in court watching attorneys spar over the credibility of character witnesses for the Christie aides charged in the scandal. Cameras are not allowed in federal court but NJTV News Correspondent David Cruz was there.
Cruz: It was the fourth week of the trial, the defense moved today to have all charges against Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni dismissed. They argued that the prosecution had failed to show any evidence that Port Authority policies were actually violated or that Bill Baroni wasn’t authorized to do what he did. The defense said that even with the lane closures motorists still had access to the bridge.
Michael Critchley Jr., representing Bridget Kelly, today argued, “There was traffic before Sept. 9. There was traffic after Sept. 12. The traffic was there; we didn’t create the traffic.”
The prosecution countered that there was plenty of evidence and testimony that showed the traffic in Fort Lee that week was unprecedented and said that there was a paper trail that clearly showed a conspiracy.
The judge said she would take the weekend to consider the motion and rule on Monday.
Earlier in today’s abbreviated session, Michael Baldassare, Bill Baroni’s lawyer, presented three character witnesses — a woman who Baroni met at a weight loss program, another who worked with Baroni on marriage equality issues and the third, a former South Brunswick police chief.
All three testified that Baroni was honest, dedicated, trustworthy and kind.
During the cross, however, the prosecution countered by getting them all to admit that they had heard none of the testimony, seen none of the evidence in the trial and had never worked with Baroni at the Port Authority.
Assuming the judge doesn’t dismiss the charges Monday, we could see Bill Baroni take the stand.