Baroni Jr., 45, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, and Bridget Anne Kelly, 44, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, was sentenced to 18 months, according to the Justice Department.
Two former cronies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were sentenced to prison Wednesday for the politically motivated "Bridgegate" scandal.
According to documents filed in this case, statements made in court and the evidence at trial, in August 2013, after Kelly confirmed that Sokolich, a Democrat, would not be endorsing Christie for re-election in November 2013, Baroni, Kelly, and Wildstein chose to punish the mayor by deliberately causing significant traffic problems in Fort Lee under the false pretense of a traffic study.
Fort Lee suffered four days of gridlock as part of the plan that shut the bridge's local lanes to punish Sokolich for not backing Christie for re-election. "I let the people of Fort Lee down".
After the sentencing, Kelly made a brief statement outside the courthouse saying, "Today has been a very hard day, obviously, for me and for my children but I want to assure my kids and everyone else that this fight is far from over".
In her sentencing of Baroni, Judge Susan Wigenton called the crimes "an outrageous abuse of power". 'Three years ago, I didn't have a place to live, ' she commented.
"The problem is Mr. Baroni broke the law and wound up endangering the lives of people for purely political purposes", said Wisniewski, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.
Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, will be sentenced later Wednesday. "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee", Kelly wrote, just before the shutdown caused a week of chaos on the surface roads of Fort Lee.
The commission comes as part of a new White House Office of American Innovation, led by Trump's son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner, whose father, real estate mogul Charles Kushner, Christie prosecuted in his former role as USA attorney.
That was when Christie fired Kelly and distanced himself from his 2013 campaign manager Bill Stepien, who has gone on to become President Donald Trump's political director.
Swatch's provocative 'Tick different' slogan has Apple riled
Responding to Apple's accusations, Swatch CEO Nick Hayek said any similarity between the two campaigns is coincidental. Swatch filed the opposition in March 2014 after Apple applied to protect the name "iWatch" as a trade mark.
Earlier this week, prosecutors asked that both Baroni and Kelly get sentenced "at the bottom or modestly below" guidelines of 37 to 46 months behind bars. Wildstein, who pleaded guilty and cooperated with the feds as part of a plea deal, has not been sentenced yet.
The pair were found guilty on seven counts of conspiracy, fraud, and civil rights violations.
"I respectfully ask that you allow me the opportunity to reconnect with my children and rebuild our lives", a tearful Kelly said. Christie's popularity steadily sunk as the scandal swamped his administration, and testimony at the six-week trial depicted him as a profane bully. (Cuomo has denied the allegations.) The damning testimony prompted community activist and gubernatorial candidate Bill Brennan to file a citizen's complaint against Christie last October.
Kelly regularly dabbed at her eyes with a tissue during the nearly two-hour-long proceeding. About the lane closures, he said "I didn't stop it, and I should have".
As comprehensive as the trial was, with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of excerpts from emails, text messages, documents and video recordings, it still left many unanswered questions, in particular who else knew about the scheme.
Both defendants were expected to appeal their convictions.
In addition to the prison terms, Judge Wigenton sentenced the each of the defendants to one year of supervised release.
The president said he especially wanted to thank a New Jersey woman, Pam Garozzo, who lost her son last December to a drug overdose. Baroni testified that Wildstein was viewed as Christie's enforcer, and several Port Authority officials testified that he was nearly universally disliked at the agency.
Bridget Kelly leaves federal court after sentencing in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, March 29, 2017.
Comments