'Bridgegate' convictions in New Jersey partially overturned

A federal appeals court on Tuesday partially overturned the convictions of two onetime associates of former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for their roles in the “Bridgegate” lane-closing scandal that helped scuttle his presidential bid.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia threw out the convictions on two civil rights counts of Bill Baroni, a former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff of Christie.

It also upheld Baroni’s and Kelly’s convictions on seven other counts, including wire fraud and misusing Port Authority resources, and ordered that both defendants be resentenced.

Baroni had been given a two-year prison term, while Kelly had received a 1-1/2 year sentence.

The defendants were accused of arranging a September 2013 shutdown of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, causing several days of gridlock, to punish the state’s Democratic mayor for not endorsing the re-election of Christie, a Republican.

Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum