Lawyers for former Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez criticized the government’s handling of evidence in his corruption trial Monday after the crash.

The incident occurred when federal prosecutors, during deliberations, unintentionally displayed nine exhibits containing unedited content that had been accidentally uploaded from a laptop used to manage evidence files. According to To The Hill. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein, Menendez’s lawyers called the incident “extremely disturbing.”

Although prosecutors acknowledged the error to the court, they argued it should not affect Menendez’s conviction or warrant any remedial action, The Hill reported. Mr. Menendez’s lawyer, Adam Fee, expressed concern about the government’s attempts to trivialize the issue.

“The government’s efforts to downplay recent findings raise more questions than answers about the government’s actions,” Menendez’s attorney Adam Fee said in a statement. Fee said the defense was kept in the dark about the error until about two weeks after prosecutors became aware of it, and that he only learned about it in a letter from prosecutors last Wednesday.

‘A death sentence is very likely’: Jonathan Turley says Bob Menendez could face long prison term if convicted pic.twitter.com/tUwZiFyAtJ

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Menendez’s defense also argues that prosecutors failed to thoroughly inspect the thousands of exhibits they showed jurors and did not preserve the exhibits’ original condition, the paper said. Reported. Instead, he allegedly erased the laptop containing the evidence after the trial. (Related: Gov. Phil Murphy names former chief of staff to replace Sen. Bob Menendez)

According to The Hill, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Monteleoni acknowledged in an exchange with Judge Stein that neither the prosecution nor the defense were initially aware of the mistake, and that the unredacted information influenced the jury’s decision. It is said that he downplayed the possibility that he had given up. Monteleoni opposed a retrial, arguing that it was unnecessary because the jury was unlikely to notice the mistake.

After the evidence glitch was discovered, Menendez accused prosecutors of manipulating evidence and told The Hill that the error proves they “cannot be trusted.” His attorneys asked Judge Stein to schedule a conference to delve deeper into the impact of this prosecutorial error.

Menendez resigned from the Senate in August after being found guilty on multiple charges, including bribery and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt. He continued to stubbornly maintain his innocence. Menendez plans to appeal the conviction, with sentencing scheduled for January 29.

A federal court in July convicted Menendez of bribery in favor of the Egyptian government, including advocating for U.S. military aid to Egypt and sharing confidential information with U.S. embassy officials. . Authorities found more than $100,000 in gold bullion and more than $480,000 in cash hidden in the former senator’s residence.

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