over the first two weeks of the george washington bridge lane-closure trial , the net of people accused of knowing about and implicitly approving of the alleged criminal conduct has widened well beyond the defendants. legal experts say that while the conduct outlined in testimony is ugly and exposes an apparent seedy underbelly of politics in trenton, it doesn<u+2019>t qualify as criminal behavior. prosecutors, using witness testimony, emails and texts, have sought to establish that several high-ranking officials, including new jersey gov. chris christie, were aware of the lane closures during or before they occurred, yet made no effort to halt what prosecutors and others call a matter of public safety. some of this testimony has come from david wildstein, a former port authority official who has pleaded guilty to participating in the lane closures and is cooperating with the government. those on trial are bill baroni, the former deputy executive director of the port authority of new york and new jersey, and bridget kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to mr. christie. prosecutors say the defendants were part of a scheme to cause traffic problems in fort lee, n.j., to punish the borough<u+2019>s democratic mayor for not endorsing mr. christie, a republican. mr. baroni and ms. kelly have pleaded not guilty. mr. christie hasn<u+2019>t been accused of wrongdoing and has repeatedly denied knowledge of the lane closures before or while they were occurring. prosecutors also have painted a picture of a governor<u+2019>s office intimately connected to a gubernatorial campaign, which used a sprawling bistate agency<u+2019>s resources to reward officials who might endorse mr. christie and punish those who didn<u+2019>t. a spokesman for mr. christie declined to comment on that allegation. david siegal, a former federal prosecutor in new york, said there are two parts to every criminal case: criminal intent and criminal act. <u+201c>generally speaking, if all you do is become aware of a crime, that<u+2019>s not enough to charge you with a crime,<u+201d> said mr. siegal, co-chair of the government enforcement and litigation practice group at haynes and boone llp. in deciding who to charge, prosecutors had to consider not only who took an active step to advance the alleged illegal scheme but also who they had sufficient evidence to convict, said robert mintz, a defense attorney at mccarter & english llp who isn<u+2019>t involved in the case. if prosecutors had charged more individuals but didn<u+2019>t have sufficient evidence, the entire case could have crumbled, he said. <u+201c>in this case, some difficult calls had to be made, but i think prosecutors were wary of overreaching here and imperiling the entire case,<u+201d> added mr. mintz, a former federal prosecutor in new jersey. mr. mintz said either side could subpoena mr. christie to appear and the judge then would rule on whether he has to testify. but since mr. christie has denied any knowledge, calling him as a witness doesn<u+2019>t seem to further either side, mr. mintz added. last week, mr. christie said he had no expectation he would be called. another high-ranking staffer whose name has surfaced in trial testimony and email exchanges<u+2014>all through personal email accounts<u+2014>is bill stepien, a former christie aide who later became the governor<u+2019>s campaign manager and who now works for republican presidential nominee donald trump. mr. wildstein says he told mr. stepien in 2011 about the possibility of using lane closures as political punishment, and informed him of the plan and its punitive purpose before he put it into motion. kevin marino, an attorney representing mr. stepien, noted that his client, by mr. wildstein<u+2019>s account, asked not to be involved in port authority business. mr. marino added he was appalled that mr. wildstein<u+2019>s <u+201c>wildly inaccurate testimony has focused on people who are not present to defend themselves, but says precious little about those who are actually on trial.<u+201d> information revealed during the trial also appears to show that david samson, the port authority<u+2019>s powerful former chairman, had knowledge of the alleged plot. mr. wildstein testified that mr. baroni said he told mr. samson about the lane closures and their political purpose the weekend before they began. mr. wildstein also sent an email to ms. kelly after the lanes were reopened, which read, <u+201c>samson helping us to retaliate.<u+201d> mr. samson pleaded guilty to bribery earlier this year in a probe that stemmed from the bridge investigation but isn<u+2019>t cooperating with the prosecution in the bridge case. an attorney for mr. samson didn<u+2019>t respond to requests for comment. while those with apparent knowledge can<u+2019>t necessarily be charged with a crime, someone who helps conceal a crime already committed<u+2014>say by hiding a murder weapon or deleting an email<u+2014>can be charged as an accessory, said j.c. lore, director of trial advocacy at rutgers law school. but such a charge requires an explicit act used in the coverup, not merely knowledge of the occurrence of a crime, he added. one of the more unsavory allegations made during the trial is that mr. christie<u+2019>s office, at the direction of the governor himself, used port authority resources such as money, jobs and world trade center site tours to court local officials from whom he sought endorsements. mr. wildstein said all requests for use of port authority resources were vetted through the governor<u+2019>s office. in one email exchange, ms. kelly and mr. wildstein corresponded about whether the port authority should comply with a request to send the agency<u+2019>s emergency responders to a major fire in seaside park , n.j., in 2013. mr. wildstein, as was his pattern, first checked with the governor<u+2019>s office, he testified. <u+2018> in this case, some difficult calls had to be made, but i think prosecutors were wary of overreaching here and imperiling the entire case. <u+2019> <u+201c>okay for pa cops to go help in seaside park?<u+201d> mr. wildstein wrote in a text message. ms. kelly said yes. <u+2014>ted mann contributed to this article. write to corinne ramey at corinne.ramey@wsj.com
bridge evidence points to others: why no charges? - wsj
corinne ramey