Getty Menendez trial could get pushed to next year The senator's attorneys and prosecutors are in agreement on postponing the start date.

Attorneys for Sen. Robert Menendez and his co-defendant are asking a federal judge to delay the start of the bribery and corruption trial for the New Jersey Democrat, signaling the proceedings could be postponed until next year.

Federal prosecutors are not objecting to the defense request, making it all but certain that the scheduled Oct. 13 trial date — already considered wildly optimistic by those close to the case— is going to be missed.


Menendez, who was first elected to Congress in 1992 and became a senator in 2006, was indicted in April for allegedly accepting close to $1 million worth of gifts and campaign contributions from Salomon Melgen in exchange for using his Senate office to aid the Florida ophthalmologist.

The indictment cites Menendez's intervention in a multimillion-dollar billing dispute Melgen had with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Menendez's help in enforcing a $500 million port security contract with the Dominican Republic; and Menendez's attempts to obtain visas for several of Melgen’s girlfriends. Melgen, a longtime friend and financial supporter of the senator, would reportedly send his private jet to pick up Menendez and a guest in New Jersey for flights to Florida or Melgen’s resort home in the Dominican Republic, all at no cost. Menendez repaid tens of thousands of dollars for the undisclosed flights after they became public.

Menendez and Melgen have both denied wrongdoing, and their attorneys have filed more than a dozen motions to have all or parts of the case thrown out. Justice Department prosecutors have countered with their own wave of legal filings, and whoever loses these pre-trial maneuvers is expected to appeal those rulings.

"Put simply, Defendants anticipate that, by October 13, 2015, the case is likely to have motions pending or an appeal taken and, in addition, Defendants will not be ready to try this case (which includes a 68-page, 22-count indictment, over half a million pages of prosecution produced discovery, 3,000 pages of grand jury testimony, and nearly 200 witness interviews compiled over the course of a nearly 3-year investigation by the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and multiple United States Attorney’s Offices)," Menendez and Melgen's attorneys wrote in a Monday filing.

"In addition to the voluminous evidence that Defendants continue to review and analyze in order to prepare this case, they have also been focusing substantial time and energy preparing 17 pretrial motions which, among other important issues, raise complex and novel constitutional questions under the Speech or Debate Clause and the Bill of Rights. These circumstances, in addition to Defendants’ recent engagements of new counsel to contribute to trial preparation, weigh in favor of continuance of trial."

U.S. District Judge William H. Walls has not ruled on the defense motion yet, but it would be unusual for a joint request by both the prosecution and defense to delay trial to be denied.

