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Bridget Kelly,
44, a former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni,
45, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty in November of
orchestrating the shutdown of access lanes at the George
Washington Bridge in 2013.
Prosecutors said the resulting traffic gridlock was intended to
punish a local mayor for refusing to back Christie's re-election
bid, as the governor's aides tried to burnish his bipartisan
credentials in advance of his run for president.
Christie, who was not charged, has denied any involvement. But
the scandal's lasting fallout dampened enthusiasm for Christie
when he sought the Republican nomination for president in 2016
and later helped cost him a position in President Donald Trump's
administration.
Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Susan
Wigenton in Newark to sentence Kelly and Baroni to about three
years in prison, saying in court papers that a stiff punishment
is needed to reflect the seriousness of government corruption.
Lawyers for the defendants, meanwhile, have asked for probation
or community service instead.
In court filings seeking a light sentence, Kelly's lawyers noted
she did not profit from the plot and that she is a single mother
of four. Baroni's lawyers, meanwhile, emphasized his "exemplary
life of public service, generosity and charity."
But U.S. prosecutors told Wigenton the defendants "committed a
monumental betrayal of the public trust" and should be punished
accordingly.
Kelly and Baroni testified at trial they believed the lane
realignment was part of a legitimate traffic study based on what
they had been told by David Wildstein, another Port Authority
executive. But Wildstein, who pleaded guilty and appeared as the
government's star witness, told jurors the defendants were fully
aware he invented the traffic study as a cover story.
In seeking prison terms, prosecutors accused Kelly and Baroni of
committing perjury at trial.
Both defendants are expected to appeal their convictions.
Wigenton denied their request for a new trial earlier this
month.
No other officials have been charged in connection with the
Bridgegate plot, though prosecutors introduced evidence at trial
suggesting that Christie himself and numerous members of his
inner circle knew about the scandal earlier than they publicly
acknowledged.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and
Matthew Lewis)
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