Prominent New Jersey lawyer Paul Bergin – who launched a criminal defence practice following a stint as a federal prosecutor – claimed in a court submission last week that the government witnesses should be banned from giving further evidence and certain prosecuting lawyers should be dismissed from the case.
Plotting murder
According to NorthJearsey.com, the web site of the North Jersey Record newspaper, Mr Bergin is accused of ‘instigating the 2004 murder of an FBI informant’, who could have given evidence against a client, as well as using his Newark legal practice ‘as a racketeering enterprise’. Mr Bergin is also accused of plotting in 2008 to murder witnesses in the case against another client.
The ABA Journal points out that Mr Bergin ‘has spent the last several years goaled without bail’ as he awaits a second trial after the first ended in a hung jury and mistrial last autumn. It is understood that the next hearing is listed for the beginning of October.
Steven Sanders, the assistant US attorney handling the prosecution, described the submissions by Mr Bergin’s legal team as ‘a ploy to delay the trial and obtain a deposition of government witnesses’.
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