Defense Counsel for Ex-U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez Urges Sentence of Less Than Two Years

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez should be sentenced to no more than two years in prison, his attorneys argued in a new filing ahead of his sentencing for various corruption charges later this month.

“Senator Menendez’s conviction has rendered him a national punchline and stripped him of every conceivable personal, professional, and financial benefit,” the ex-pol’s attorneys, Avi Weitzman and Adam Fee, wrote in the sentencing submission to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein of the Southern District of New York.

The filing, which urged Stein to sentence the 71-year-old to no more than 21 months, was accompanied by 120 letters to the judge from family, friends, staffers, constituents and others.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29, and advisory federal sentencing guidelines suggest a sentence of at least 24 years. The Probation Department has recommended a sentence of 12 years.

But defense counsel, partners at Paul Hastings, said that a more appropriate guideline sentence would be 21 to 27 months, and that Menendez should be sentenced to less than that range.

“With this case, his political and professional careers have ended; his reputation is destroyed; and the latter years of his life are in shambles,” the submission said. “He is certain never to commit future offenses. And his current state—stripped of office and living under a permanent shadow of disgrace and mockery—are more than sufficient to reflect the seriousness of the offenses and to promote respect for the law.”

A jury in July found Menendez, who served as a Democrat from New Jersey, guilty of bribery, acting as a foreign agent, extortion, obstruction of justice and conspiracy.

He has said he will appeal his conviction, and is also seeking a new trial after federal prosecutors informed the parties that jurors had been presented with evidence during deliberations that they did not see at trial.

The sentencing is scheduled to occur before his wife, Nadine Menendez, stands trial in February.

She was indicted alongside her husband, but her trial was delayed while she underwent treatment for cancer.

At trial, Menendez assigned blame for the charges on his wife, claiming he’d been duped and was unaware of her alleged wrongdoing.

“If his conviction is upheld, he will lose his federal pension,” Weitzman wrote. “His law license has been suspended and will be revoked if his conviction stands. His state pension and government provided insurance are at risk, too. And illustrative of the countless minor indignities he now faces, his name has been stripped from an elementary school in New Jersey.”

Defense counsel devoted much of the submission to the earnestly “good life” led and “truly extraordinary record of service” by their client, and said they will not address legal arguments at this stage.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the submission.