Bob Menendez asked a judge Wednesday to set aside guilty verdicts that forced his resignation from the U.S. Senate and grant a new bribery trial.
Lawyers for the New Jersey Democrat said in papers filed in Manhattan federal court that a recent revelation by prosecutors that improper evidence was put on a computer used by jurors during deliberations means that a new trial is “unavoidable.”
The 70-year-old Menendez was convicted in July of 16 charges, including bribery, in part based on an allegation that he accepted bribes in exchange for approving military aid to Egypt.
He awaits a Jan. 29 sentencing. Menendez resigned from the Senate in August.
At trial, prosecutors said Menendez accepted gold and cash from three New Jersey businessmen in return for favors.
Earlier this month, prosecutors revealed in a letter to Judge Sidney H. Stein that they had discovered that some factual information that the judge had ruled should be excluded from several trial exhibits was instead inadvertently loaded onto a computer used by jurors to reach their verdict.
