nutty stuff continues

A juror was dismissed who had a planned vacation

That juror told reporters Menendez "did nothing wrong," the prosecution is "corrupted" and that they "railroaded" the senator. She said if she stayed on, Menendez would have been not guilty on all counts

The juror said she thinks it will end up in a hung jury. Some think he's guilty, some not.

This juror was dismissed because Judge William Walls promised that she could take a long-planned vacation during jury selection. The judge didn't anticipate the trial going this long.

While this is an encouraging sign for Menendez, it's also very unfortunate for him. This juror would have been a firm not guilty vote on all charges. She says she wouldn't have been moved. Now she's off the jury.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...-away-for-t-n2407383

http://www.nj.com/politics/ind...ot_reach_a_verd.html

The jury in the trial of Sen. Robert Menendez told the judge Monday afternoon that it was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict.

U.S. District Judge William Walls sent them home early and told them to try again on Tuesday

seven jurors admitted seeing the explosive news coverage last week of Arroyo-Maultsby, who said she believed the New Jersey Democrat had done nothing wrong. (see post above)

In comments widely reported last week, Arroyo-Maultsby, 61, of Hillside, said the government had not made its case against Menendez, and claimed that three others on the panel agreed with her.

The jury resumed deliberations earlier Monday with an alternate juror, following the dismissal of Arroyo-Maultsby.

The judge indicated he was not concerned about the public remarks, and ordered the jury to begin deliberations anew shortly before lunchtime.

https://www.politico.com/state...enendez-trial-115706

Another day has gone by in the federal corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez without a verdict.

Jurors deliberated again on Wednesday, but gave no clue as to whether they remained deadlocked — as they indicated they were on Monday — or had made progress toward reaching a verdict regarding Menendez and his co-defendant, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen.

Menendez, a Democrat and New Jersey's senior senator, is charged with going to bat for Melgen’s business interests at the highest levels of the federal government in exchange for private jet flights, hotel rooms and around $750,000 in political contributions.

The defense does not dispute Menendez did favors for Melgen, but argues they were borne out of a 20-year friendship and that Melgen’s disputes with the federal government raised legitimate policy issues.

what a whopper

https://www.washingtonpost.com...m_term=.7bdfd1da905e

Judge declares mistrial in Menendez prosecution

NEWARK —The bribery trial of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) ended in a mistrial Thursday after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked on corruption charges against the lawmaker and a wealthy Florida eye doctor.

“We cannot reach a unanimous decision,’’ the jury said in a note just before lunch on Thursday. “Nor are we willing to move away from our strong convictions.”

A mistrial is a major victory for a senator who had to fight 18 counts of alleged corruption, and a setback for the Justice Department, whose efforts to combat public corruption have been curtailed by a recent Supreme Court decision.

After receiving Thursday’s note, U.S. District Court Judge William Walls decided to interview the foreman and at least one other juror in chambers, in the presence of the lawyers on the case.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to issue a clarifying instruction to the panel, telling jurors they could reach verdicts on individual counts in the indictment, even if they can’t find agreement on all the counts. Judge Walls rejected that suggestion, saying to do so would be “going down the slippery slope of coercion.’’

He added: “There’s no point doing something just to say you’ve done it.’’

Menendez defense lawyer Abbe Lowell told the judge, “I think we have to declare a mistrial.’’

“They are telling us in the clearest terms possible that they have done their job as diligent jurors. I think we have a real hung jury,’’ said Lowell.

After nine weeks of testimony, the jury has struggled to reach a consensus on any of the charges against Menendez and his co-defendant, Salomon Melgen.

The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating last week, and it quickly became clear there were sharp divisions.

On Nov. 9, an excused juror said she would have acquitted the senator, but predicted it would end in a hung jury.

Then, on Monday afternoon, the jury sent a note saying it was unable to reach a verdict. Judge Walls sent the panel home early that day, telling jurors to come back fresh and try again.

“I realize you are having difficulty reaching a unanimous decision, but that’s not unusual,” Walls told the panel the next morning. He said jurors should decide the case for themselves but shouldn’t hesitate to reexamine their views. “This is not reality TV, this is real life, “ Walls said.

The admonition did not resolve the impasse. During a smoking break Wednesday outside the courthouse, five jurors huddled in a group chatting, while a sixth male juror stayed away, smoking alone.

Menendez’s lawyers had repeatedly asked the judge to declare a mistrial over various evidentiary and procedural issues.

[Supreme Court makes it harder to prosecute corruption]

While mistrials are generally considered wins for defense lawyers and losses for prosecutors, the Justice Department will likely feel significant internal pressure to put the senator on trial again, because recent Supreme Court decisions have raised questions about how much legal authority prosecutors still have in pursuing corruption charges involving payments not explicitly and directly linked to official acts.

Some legal experts have warned that a defeat for the government in the Menendez case could make prosecutors more reluctant to pursue public corruption cases in the future.

A guilty verdict, on the other hand, could have had major ramifications in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority. If Menendez had been convicted, there would probably have been pressure on him to resign, or for fellow senators to expel him. If his seat had become vacant before mid-January, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would have been able to appoint his successor, likely turning a Democratic seat Republican until a November 2018 midterm election. But it was not clear that even if he had been convicted, whether Menendez and his fellow Democrats would have gone along with his ouster.

[Original indictment of Sen. Robert Menendez and Salomon Melgen ]

Prosecutors said Menendez took gifts from Melgen, including a luxury hotel stay, private jet flights, and campaign donations, in exchange for which he tried to help Melgen get U.S. visas for his girlfriends, intervened in the doctor’s $8.9 million billing dispute with Medicare, and assisted with a port security contract of the doctor’s in the Dominican Republic.

Melgen is already awaiting sentencing for a previous conviction for defrauding Medicare. The two men were on trial for bribery, and Menendez was also accused of lying on government disclosure forms about his finances when he did not report gifts of flights paid for by Melgen — an omission the senator calls an accidental oversight, not a criminal lie.

Menendez’s lawyers said the government, by charging Menendez, was trying to criminalize a longtime friendship between the two men, and that there was nothing corrupt about Menendez’s acts on Melgen’s behalf, or Melgen’s financial support of Menendez.

In closing arguments Menendez’s attorney Lowell said his client’s “deep and abiding friendship’’ with Melgen “destroys every single one of the charges’’ against them.

“Not one document, not one email hints at a corrupt agreement,’’ Lowell told the jury.

Prosecutors countered that the “friendship defense” raised by the lawyers is no defense at all, because it is still against the law to bribe a friend.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Peter Koski told the jury that the case was about “a greedy doctor and a corrupt politician,’’ and that Melgen paid Menendez to be “his personal United States senator.”

To try to prove their case, prosecutors called pilots, government officials, and even a former lawmaker, former senator Tom Harkin, to the witness stand to describe how Menendez pushed and prodded officials on behalf of Melgen. At times, those witnesses delivered a mixed message to jurors.

Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said that he had a meeting with Menendez about Melgen’s billing dispute as a “common courtesy’’ among senators — suggesting he didn’t see anything nefarious about the interaction.

The defense spent much of its time putting character witnesses on the stand — including current Sens. Corey Booker (D-N.J.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) to vouch for Menendez’s character.

The trial has taken place against the backdrop of last year’s Supreme Court ruling that overturned the corruption conviction of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell (R).

Judge Walls tailored his jury instructions to conform to his reading of the McDonnell ruling, which narrowed the definition of an “official act” by a politician.

Pathetic.

And Menendez just burst into tears during his press conference as I was about to post this.

I hope they retry this criminal.

Nullification

I can't say I'm shocked one bit.



The People's Republik of New Jersey is packed full of liberals who think he did no wrong. Looks like they got enough of them on that jury.

NJ SF members: your new Commie Gov has already been talking up raising taxes, it's time to start planning your escape from thew People's Republik.

All he needs is at least 1 democrat on the jury which is guaranteed. He'll never be convicted by a jury.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...uption-case-n2410454

Menendez held a brief presser, where he said that the entirety of this case, how it was handled, how it was prosecuted, and how it was investigated was wrong.

He also said that there were some elements within the FBI and New Jersey, who cannot stand that a Latino, could rise to become a United States Senator.

what a POS

http://www.foxnews.com/politic...tical-vengeance.html

Juror Edward Norris, a 49-year-old equipment operator, told reporters he didn’t “think the government proved anything.”

Norris told reporters that 10 people on the jury wanted to acquit Menendez of all charges while two held out for conviction.

Thursday’s mistrial brings an inconclusive end to the two-and-a-half month trial. Prosecutors could decide to retry Menendez though it’s unlikely, David Weinstein, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, told Fox News.

The Menendez case appears to be a good example of what I have explained any number of times to those who insist that Sessions and DOJ are misfits, incompetent bought and paid for buffoons, traitors to the conservative cause, and worse.

Let’s start by assuming the prosecutors are competent and well meaning. This may not be actually true, but we have to start somewhere. They amass the evidence, the details, assess those in light of existing criminal law, and if it appears to be violative, they present the case to a grand jury which issues an indictment and the case moves on to trial. Apparently, the jury didn’t see it the same way, especially after hearing defense explanations and refutations.

The DOJ isn’t invariably competent and well meaning. Look up the case of Senator Ted Stevens. Stevens suffered a guilty verdict, but before sentencing, an FBI agent on the case became a whistle blower detailing some truly despicable unprofessional and ethical lapses. The detailed disturbed the judge so much that he commissioned an independent investigator to prepare a report, with recommendations. One of the prosecutors committed suicide.

Hopefully, these are the extremes on either side. Careful, detailed preparation, supervised by experienced ethical attorneys should obtain better results. There is no good in prosecuting a case that cannot result in convictions. Some of these situations are not often litigated, and the reaction of juries and appellate judges to certain levels of evidence or proof are unpredictable.

The Menendez case seems especially nebulous, ambiguous. I didn’t hear the evidence or read the indictment, the briefs so have no opinion about whether the case was properly brought, foolishly pursued, incompetently tried, or what.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I can't say I'm shocked one bit.



The People's Republik of New Jersey is packed full of liberals who think he did no wrong. Looks like they got enough of them on that jury.

NJ SF members: your new Commie Gov has already been talking up raising taxes, it's time to start planning your escape from thew People's Republik.

NJ has an 'Exit Tax' that penalizes homeowners that sell and leave the state....They even screw you on the way out the door in New Jermany!

The charges against Menendez center around his relationship with a friend, the optometrist, who provided Menendez with gifts, plane transport, maybe some cash, which the prosecutors characterized as bribes. The argument was whether Menendez reciprocated these gifts with favorable official acts.

It occurs to me that Calvin Coolidge had a benefactor in his rise through Massachsetts politics to become Governor. Frank Stearns, a department store merchant, and his wife became friends, helped Mrs. Coolidge with her wardrobe, entertaining, published a book of Coolidge’s speeches, and promised Coolidge for the Vice Presidential nomination. I don’t recall any hint that Stearns sought anything from this relationship other than proper government policies.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
The Menendez case appears to be a good example of what I have explained any number of times to those who insist that Sessions and DOJ are misfits, incompetent bought and paid for buffoons, traitors to the conservative cause, and worse.

Guilty as charged. But man it makes me angry.

I was having a conversation with my barber today (one of the most level headed people I know, no pun intended) and he broke the news to me about the Menendez mistrial. I was ticked. But it is what it is. As long as the heavy hand is not pushing justice in one direction (which I truely don't think is happening with Sessions if I am honest with myself) it will all come out in the wash. At least I hope so.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...ob-menendez-n2437038

The Department of Justice has announced its plan to retry Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) for corruption.

"Today the U.S. filed a notice of intent to retry Sen. Robert Menendez and Dr. Salomon Melgen and requested that the court set the case for retrial at the earliest possible date--on charges that included conspiracy, bribery, and honest services fraud," the DOJ wrote Friday.

Hope they get it right this time!

Maybe this Judge won't throw out 1/2 the evidence including him screwing 15 y.o. Dominican whores.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...ob-menendez-n2437038

The Department of Justice has announced its plan to retry Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) for corruption.

"Today the U.S. filed a notice of intent to retry Sen. Robert Menendez and Dr. Salomon Melgen and requested that the court set the case for retrial at the earliest possible date--on charges that included conspiracy, bribery, and honest services fraud," the DOJ wrote Friday.

Kinda surprised, will be interesting to see if they get a different outcome this time. Seems like it will be tough to do just given what I've read of the evidence and the burden of proof they have.

A U.S. District Judge dismissed seven counts of bribery charges on Wednesday in the corruption case against Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., ruling that the government failed to prove that there was an explicit quid-pro-quo agreement.

The case against Menendez alleged that he had conversations and meetings with executive branch officials to help his longtime friend, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, in a $9 billion Medicare billing dispute and a contract in the Dominican Republic involving one of his companies.

The counts dropped on Wednesday alleged bribery involving political donations to the New Jersey Democrat by Melgen.

Defense lawyers argued that those donations had to be linked to specific acts by the senator in order to be considered bribes.

The judge agreed with the defense and tossed out seven counts against Menendez and Melgen.

"The failure of the Government to produce evidence of facts either direct or circumstantial as predicates for proffered inferences evokes Gertrude Stein's celebrated critique of her hometown, Oakland: 'There is no there there,” Walls wrote.

Menendez's attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, said he hopes the Justice Department will reconsider retrying the case considering the court's recent ruling.

"With the court's decision, this case is now solely about the purest of personal hospitality allegations," Lowell said. "A jury rejected the government's facts and theory of bribery, and now the trial judge has rejected a critical legal theory on which the case was brought. The decision of the DOJ to retry the case makes even less sense than it did last week and we hope it would be reconsidered."

Walls' ruling also rejected Menendez's and Melgen's argument to dismiss the rest of the case because, in their view, a 2016 Supreme Court ruling invalidated the so-called "stream of benefits" theory of bribery — referring to gifts given over a period of time.

Menendez and Melgen still face 11 counts including bribery and fraud. Menendez faces one count of making false statements for allegedly lying on Senate disclosure forms.

The first trial ended in a hung jury last fall. The government said last week it will retry the pair. A new trial date hasn't been set.

Link

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
The charges against Menendez center around his relationship with a friend, the optometrist, who provided Menendez with gifts, plane transport, maybe some cash, which the prosecutors characterized as bribes. The argument was whether Menendez reciprocated these gifts with favorable official acts.

It occurs to me that Calvin Coolidge had a benefactor in his rise through Massachsetts politics to become Governor. Frank Stearns, a department store merchant, and his wife became friends, helped Mrs. Coolidge with her wardrobe, entertaining, published a book of Coolidge’s speeches, and promised Coolidge for the Vice Presidential nomination. I don’t recall any hint that Stearns sought anything from this relationship other than proper government policies.

You forgot what the judge wouldn't allow in the trial..... The house full of 15 yo whores they were banging.
Menendez rose thru the Hudson County, NJ Political Ranks (Lil Havana North) and has left for the upscale Bergen county, his daughter is twice the age of the Dominican whores. This is a dirty, dirty Bastard. If the feds don't nail him, God will.

God doesn't have time for a pissant like Menendez