bill baroni, left, and bridget anne kelly, center. | ap photo/julio cortez by ryan hutchins 11/11/16 04:23 pm est two former allies of gov. chris christie who were convicted last week of carrying out the george washington bridge lane closures filed for a new trial on friday. bill baroni, the former deputy executive director of the port authority of new york and new jersey, and bridget anne kelly, christie<u+2019>s former deputy chief of staff, filed separate notices that they would be filing motions seeking a new trial in federal court. story continued below the two were convicted on counts of conspiracy, fraud and civil rights violations, and they face up to 20 years in prison for the most serious crimes. prosecutors accused the two of closing local access lanes to the bridge, the world<u+2019>s busiest, to punish the democratic mayor of fort lee for not endorsing the republican governor in his 2013 re-election bid. the bridge's entrance is located in fort lee, and the lane closures caused days of gridlock in the bergen county town and surrounding communities. christie, now a vice chair on president-elect donald trump's transition team, has denied any knowledge or involvement in this incident, but numerous witnesses testified he knew about the lane closures before he says he did. the notices filed in u.s. district court on friday did not give any reason for seeking a new trial and are a somewhat routine step following a conviction. but the motions begin what could be a lengthy appeals process in which defense attorneys are expected to raise serious questions about judge susan wigenton<u+2019>s handling of the seven-week trial. the attorneys for the defendants raised fierce objections to wigenton's instructions to jurors, specially her decision to tell them they did not need to conclude baroni and kelly intended to punish the fort lee mayor, mark sokolich, in order to convict the two of conspiracy. kelly's lawyer, michael critchley, and baroni's lawyer, michael baldassare, had tense exchanges with the judge after jurors sent a question asking about the issue. critchley visibly reacted to her ruling at the time, leading the judge to chastise him. still, he rose and urged her to reconsider. "by answering the way you're answering, you're directing a verdict of guilty," critchley said in open court. "you're directing a verdict of guilty." before jurors had concluded their deliberations, the defense attorneys filed a formal request asking wigenton to reconsider her instructions. she denied the request, saying the defense "failed to set forth any dispositive factual matters or controlling decisions of law that have been overlooked or newly discovered information." the new filings from the defendants come on the same afternoon that christie was replaced with vice president-elect mike pence as chairman of donald trump<u+2019>s transition team. a source close to the president-elect told politico that christie would <u+201c>will still be around.<u+201d> matt friedman's must-read briefing on the garden state's important news of the day our morning email about new jersey health care policy and politics a morning email with must-read analysis and breaking news on new jersey politics and policy. matt friedman's must-read briefing on the garden state's important news of the day
former christie allies convicted last week seek new bridgegate trial
ryan hutchins