Former NJ Senator Menendez loses bid for new trial, faces sentencing next week

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez on Wednesday lost a bid for a new trial, after arguing that his recent corruption conviction should be thrown out because jurors were allowed to review improper evidence during deliberations.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein's decision paves the way for Menendez's Jan. 29 sentencing. The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan says the Democratic former chair of the Senate foreign relations committee should spend 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors admitted in November that jurors reviewed nine pieces of evidence containing material that should have been redacted, but that the mistake did not justify setting aside the verdict.

Menendez's lawyers said the unredacted material contained the only evidence tying him to the government's central accusation, that he accepted bribes in exchange for shepherding military aid to Egypt.

His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Stein's ruling.