Judge denies sentencing delay for ex-Sen. Bob Menendez but puts his wife’s trial off until February

NEW YORK – Former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will probably be sentenced on corruption expenses as scheduled on the finish of January, and his spouse’s trial will probably be moved from January to February, a decide mentioned Monday.

U.S. District Decide Sidney H. Stein in Manhattan rejected Menendez’s request to delay his sentencing for his conviction on bribery and different expenses till his spouse finishes her trial on comparable expenses, presumably someday in March.

The Democrat’s attorneys final week requested a brand new sentencing date on the grounds that the jury chosen to listen to the case in opposition to his spouse, Nadine Menendez, can be tainted if jurors heard concerning the end result of the previous senator’s sentencing throughout the trial.

Menendez, 70, was convicted in July of 16 corruption expenses introduced by prosecutors who asserted that he used his energy within the Senate over a five-year stretch by 2022 to do favors that benefitted three New Jersey businessmen who paid him with gold bars, a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in money and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.

Two of the businessmen have been convicted together with Menendez whereas a 3rd pleaded responsible, cooperated with the federal government, and testified in opposition to him.

Nadine Menendez has pleaded not responsible to expenses. Initially set to face trial together with her husband, her trial was postpone after a breast most cancers prognosis led to surgery. Stein moved her Jan. 21 trial on Monday to Feb. 5. Her husband, as scheduled, will probably be sentenced on Jan. 29.