Sen. Bob Menendez takes a selfie with his wife, Nadine, and businessman Wael Hana. The three are co-defendants in an 18-count federal corruption indictment. (Courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York)
Bob Menendez’s wife has asked for another delay in her upcoming bribery trial, complaining that media coverage of the convicted ex-senator’s sentencing later this month will taint the jury pool.
With just a week between his Jan. 29 sentencing and Nadine Menendez’s Feb. 5 trial, finding impartial jurors will be unlikely, attorney Barry Coburn said in a Tuesday letter to federal Judge Sidney H. Stein. He asked the judge to postpone the trial for two to three months until the sentencing-related headlines die down.
“The inevitably intense publicity accompanying the sentencing of a former United States Senator would be so widely disseminated, and so inflammatory to prospective jurors, so that selecting a jury for the trial of his wife and alleged co-conspirator that would not be influenced by it likely would not be possible,” Coburn wrote.
He submitted a supporting letter from Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, an Arizona-based jury consultant, who said press coverage of the sentencing would create “a salient and recent impression in the minds of potential jurors.”
If Stein doesn’t delay the trial, he should consider a change of venue, allow in-depth questioning of potential jurors to determine their preconceived notions, or give jurors clear instructions about basing their decisions solely on trial evidence, Dimitrius wrote.
Menendez and co-defendants Wael Hana and Fred Daibes also had fought to move their trial from Manhattan, where they were first indicted by the federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. But Stein denied that request last year.
Coburn also cited concerns about Nadine Menendez’s medical condition, but that letter was filed under seal. Stein last spring ordered she be tried separately and later to accommodate her treatment for breast cancer.
The couple was first charged in an 18-count, international corruption scheme in September 2023.
Jurors convicted Bob Menendez, Hana, and Daibes of all counts in July after hearing nine weeks of testimony about how Hana, Daibes, and co-defendant Jose Uribe bribed the Menendezes with gold bars, cash, a luxury car, and other riches in exchange for Bob Menendez using his political power to help their businesses and the governments of Egypt and Qatar, as well as halt various ongoing criminal cases. Uribe pleaded guilty in a cooperation deal and testified against his co-defendants.
Stein has not yet ruled on defense attorneys’ pleas for a retrial stemming from several evidence errors prosecutors first revealed in November.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.