Attorneys for Nadine Menendez, the wife of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, are requesting a two-month delay in the start of her corruption trial.
In a court filing, the attorneys said she was recently diagnosed with a "serious medical condition." Details of her medical condition were not revealed in court papers.
In their request to Judge Sidney Stein, Menendez's attorneys did not reveal her the specifics of her medical condition. They did say it would require surgery and "possibly significant recovery" time.
The lawyers requested a hearing in two months to provide an update on her medical condition, treatment plan and when a trial might be possible. They requested that she be tried separately at a later date.
On Wednesday, prosecutors said in court documents the start of the trial should be postponed until July or August. In a letter to the trial judge, prosecutors said delaying the trial to a date this summer was a better prospect than separate trials requested by Nadine Menendez's lawyers.
Prosecutors said in their letter that they currently did not believe it would be right to sever the trial of Nadine Menendez from the other defendants because of the “serious inefficiencies and unfairness” that would result if defendants who are charged with committing crimes together were tried separately.
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Prosecutors noted that separate trials would force the recall of dozens of witnesses, including at least one government official stationed abroad, and many lay witnesses who live outside New York and have expressed a concern about testifying.
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But they said they realize “the presumption against severance may be overcome by particular circumstances, including, where appropriate, the public interest in moving a case expeditiously to trial. A time may come when that interest sufficiently militates in favor of severance in this case.”
The bribery trial for Menendez, her husband, and two New Jersey businessmen, was scheduled to start on May 6.
All have pled not guilty to charges that they participated in a bribery scheme in which prosecutors say cash and gold bars were given to the couple in return for favors that the senator could carry out.
A fifth defendant, Jose Uribe, pled guilty to bribery charges last month and will be sentenced in June.
The trial judge has scheduled a conference in the case for Thursday.
