Convicted bridge case defendant joins Supreme Court appeal

NEWARK, N.J. – A convicted appointee of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has joined his co-defendant’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bill Baroni filed a notice Friday.

Baroni and former Christie aide Bridget Kelly were convicted in 2016 in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal, an alleged plot to cause traffic jams to punish a mayor who wouldn’t endorse Christie’s re-election.

Christie wasn’t charged.

An appeals court threw out some of Baroni’s and Kelly’s convictions last fall but upheld the bulk of the charges.

Baroni was subsequently resentenced to 18 months in prison. Kelly is to be resentenced next month.

Baroni’s court filing included a brief on behalf of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and former newspaper publisher Conrad Black.

Both men had fraud convictions reversed by the Supreme Court.