Legal professionals for former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez are urging a decide to be lenient at his sentencing later this month for his conviction on bribery expenses, saying the ordeal has made him a “national punchline” regardless of a lifetime of fine deeds which have saved lives.
Late Thursday, the attorneys wrote to the decide who will sentence him to say that the Democrat’s constructive actions by 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 expenses introduced by prosecutors who asserted that he used his energy within the Senate to do favors that benefited three New Jersey businessmen.
Two of the businessmen have been convicted together with him whereas a 3rd pleaded responsible to expenses and testified on the trial.
His spouse faces trial subsequent month on lots of the identical expenses after her case was delayed so she may very well be handled for breast most cancers.
The attorneys advised Decide Sidney H. Stein that Menendez has fallen on laborious occasions since he was charged within the case in 2023, dropping 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 fame 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 attorneys added.
They famous that the Probation Division calculated federal sentencing pointers 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 attorneys characterised as “draconian.”
They mentioned correctly calculated federal pointers would truly name for a roughly two-year jail time period and even that will be an excessive amount of punishment.
Federal prosecutors have been scheduled to submit their very own sentencing suggestions later this month.
