More than 100 potential jurors have already been knocked off for various conflict issues, before the task of actually picking a panel of 12 has even begin.
NEWARK--The task of selecting who will sit on the jury in the high-profile Bridgegate trial finally gets into full gear on Tuesday, when prosecutors and defense attorneys begin interviewing potential panel members for the first time.
Already, 114 people out of a pool of 253 men and women have been taken off the list--those with conflicts, or time or job issues dealing with the length of the expected six-to-eight week trial, assistant U.S. attorney Lee Cortes told U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton, who is presiding over the case in Newark.
The pool of potential jurors came in last week to fill out questionnaires and review a list of names of people who may be called as witnesses, or mentioned at trial. None of them have been directly questioned yet.
Of those who made the first cut, Cortes said 60 are people who both prosecutors and the defense said they had no immediate cause to reject. Another 79 are jurors who one side or the other indicated that they would challenge.
"That's almost anticlimactic," remarked Wigenton on Monday of the quick agreement, and the equally swift hearing. She said the remaining potential jurors will be brought to the courtroom Tuesday morning, one-by-one, and questioned.
The defense will have 14 preemptory challenges to remove any potential juror without cause. The prosecutors have eight.
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Charged in the case are Gov. Chris Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the George Washington Bridge.
The two were indicted in May 2015 on nine counts of conspiracy and fraud, in connection with the deliberate shut down of local toll lanes at the bridge in September 2013--an operation prosecutors said was aimed at causing massive traffic jams in Fort Lee in an act of political retribution targeting Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich over his decision not to endorse Christie for re-election.
David Wildstein, a political appointee to the Port Authority who orchestrated the scheme, has already pleaded guilty and is expected to be a key witness in the case.
Baroni and Kelly say they are innocent and attorneys for both said Monday they will each testify in their own defense.
In February, Wigenton denied a defense request to move the trial outside the state, rejecting a defense motion that it would be impossible to find 12 impartial jurors from the region involving a trial that has been so politically charged.
The judge said that out of a court region covering 1,700 square miles with millions of residents, "this court is not convinced that twelve impartial individuals cannot be found from such a sizable pool of potential jurors."
Meanwhile, attorneys for Baroni have filed a new motion in the trial on Sunday, claiming that the government's case has shifted. They said the U.S. Attorney's office is now arguing for the first time, that "Baroni was motivated to commit the charged crimes, in part, because he believed that Governor Christie would appreciate him for wanting to send a message to Mayor Sokolich."
Attorney Michael Baldassare, who represents Baroni, said the indictment never made such a claim of currying favor with the governor, nor did Wildstein, and asked that any such evidence be disallowed.
"The government's legal theory has impermissibly morphed," Baldassare said in his filing, pointed out the charges only allege an intent to punish Sokolich.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.