Convicted Bridgegate conspirator and former Port Authority of New York & New Jersey deputy executive director Bill Baroni was granted prison release – his attorney Michael Levy confirmed – after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to review his conviction and that of then-Gov. Chris Christie’s chief of staff Bridget Ann Kelly for their involvement in the political scandal.
U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton, based in Newark, said in an order on Monday that Baroni is “neither a flight risk nor a safety concern” and his appeal “raises substantial questions justifying release on bail.”
“Based on the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case, Baroni respectfully moves for immediate release on bail from the sentence he is currently serving, pending the outcome of the Supreme Court case,” Levy, and Baroni’s other attorney Stephen Orlasky, wrote in their six-page brief filed Monday with U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton, based in Newark.
Baroni – NJBIZ FILE PHOTO
Baroni was serving time in a federal prison in Pennsylvania and was released shortly before 4 p.m. according to a Politico report, while Kelly has managed to so far delay her prison sentence.
Both figures became embroiled in the 2013 Fort Lee-lane-closure scandal during which Christie or members of his administration had access ramps from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge abruptly closed. The move caused traffic gridlock in the borough and was allegedly carried out as political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not supporting Christie’s reelection campaign that year.
Kelly and Baroni were both convicted in 2016 for their roles in the scandal. A third alleged conspirator, then-Port Authority official David Wildstein, escaped prison time by testifying against the pair.
“If there is one thing this country does not need right now, it is a rule of law allowing a public official to be locked up based on a jury determination that she ‘lied’ by purporting to act in the public interest or by concealing her ‘political’ purposes,” Kelly’s attorneys – Michael Critchley and Yaakov Roth – wrote in their brief petition for the court to hear the case.
“There is no end to the (bipartisan) mischief such a regime would facilitate or the chilling effect it would carry,” they added.
