Attorneys for former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez are urging a choose to be lenient at his sentencing later this month for his conviction on bribery prices, saying the ordeal has made him a “national punchline” regardless of a lifetime of excellent deeds which have saved lives.
Late Thursday, the legal professionals wrote to the choose who will sentence him to say that the Democrat’s constructive actions via an uncommon life spent overcoming hardships ought to weigh in his favor. Sentencing is scheduled for July 29.
The 71-year-old Menendez was convicted in July of 16 corruption prices introduced by prosecutors who asserted that he used his energy within the Senate to do favors that benefited three New Jersey businessmen.
Associated story: Sen. Bob Menendez convicted of all prices in bribery trial
Two of the businessmen had been convicted together with him whereas a 3rd pleaded responsible to prices and testified on the trial.
His spouse faces trial subsequent month on lots of the similar prices after her case was delayed so she may very well be handled for breast most cancers.
The legal professionals informed Decide Sidney H. Stein that Menendez has fallen on onerous occasions since he was charged within the case in 2023, shedding the Senate seat he held for 18 years, together with most of his “once broad circle of friends and political allies.”
“Unsurprisingly, Senator Menendez’s conviction has rendered him a national punchline and stripped him of every conceivable personal, professional, and financial benefit,” they wrote. “Bob is now 71, along with his long-built popularity in tatters.
“He has suffered financial and professional ruin. And he now is helping his wife battle a life-threatening cancer diagnosis in the midst of her upcoming trial in this case. We respectfully submit that, notwithstanding his conviction, Bob is deserving of mercy because of the penalties already imposed, his age, and the lack of a compelling need to impose a custodial sentence,” the legal professionals added.
They famous that the Probation Division calculated federal sentencing tips as calling for a sentence as excessive as 24 years to 30 years behind bars, though Probation really useful a dozen years in jail, which the Menendez legal professionals characterised as “draconian.”
They stated correctly calculated federal tips would truly name for a roughly two-year jail time period and even that might be an excessive amount of punishment.
Federal prosecutors had been scheduled to submit their very own sentencing suggestions later this month.
