The case is the latest chapter in a years-long saga that garnered national attention and stained the Christie administration.
"This is a case of unauthorized commandeering of Port Authority resources on the pretense of a nonexistent traffic study; it is not a case about authorized use of Port Authority resources to conduct an actual traffic study with a bad motive," Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall wrote in a brief defending the Justice Department."Bridgegate is a case of bareknuckle New Jersey politics, not graft," Baroni's attorney argued in court documents.
Kelly and Baroni claim that they had the standing authority to control the traffic lanes for any reason. They also insist that any costs to the taxpayer were incidental to what would otherwise be a lawful action. "All that separates a routine decision by a public official from a federal felony, per the opinion below, is a jury finding that her public policy justification for the decision was not really and truly her subjective reason for making it," Kelly's lawyers warned."There is no way that could be the law."But government lawyers say the case is less about motive than it is about a lie.
"The conspirators could realign the lanes only by lying about the existence of a traffic study," Wall wrote."By telling those lies, and diverting the agency's resources to serve their own personal ends of inflicting massive four-day gridlock on Fort Lee, Kelly and Baroni committed fraud." During trial, the jury found both guilty on all counts. A judge sentenced Kelly to 13 months in prison and Baroni to 18 months. They remain free on bail awaiting the outcome of their appeal.
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