Judge Decides Democrat Senator Menendez's Fate

The federal corruption case against New Jersey Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez ended in a mistrial on Thursday.

Judge William Walls declared the mistrial after interviewing all 12 jurors Thursday, CNN reported.

“I find that you are unable to reach a verdict and that further deliberations would be futile and there is no alternative but to declare a mistrial,” he said.

Mendendez faced an 18-count indictment including six counts of bribery, three counts of honest services fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of interstate travel to carry out bribery and one count of making false statements on a congressional financial disclosure to conceal the crimes.

The most serious carried a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to The Record.

“Menendez, 63, accepted an abundance of campaign donations, gifts and vacations from Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist. In return, Menendez used his position to lobby on behalf of Melgen’s business interests, according to prosecutors,” Fox News reported.

Melgen allegedly directed more than $750,000 in campaign contributions to Menendez, who is currently in serving in his second term in Senate.

A meeting former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., set up with Menendez and former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss a nearly $9 million Medicaid billing dispute was one of the trial’s focal points.

Sebelius took the stand and testified the meeting was the first and only time she was asked by a senator to take a meeting with another senator.

Reid was not called to testify during the case.

“Melgen, 63, was convicted of 67 counts of health care fraud in April in what the Palm Beach Post called one of the biggest Medicare fraud cases in the U.S.,” according to Fox.

Menedenz did not take the stand in his own defense during the eight-week trial, which began in early September, but did claim his innocence to reporters.

The jury began deliberations last week.

Menendez expressed confidence in the jury as it took days to determine his fate.

“I get after nine weeks, 60 witnesses, hundreds of pages that they’re doing their job,” Menendez said last week. “And they also have challenges at home. So, you know, I’m happy to wait for the jury to come to a just verdict.”

The balance of the power in the Senate was at issue, with Republicans currently holding a slim 52 to 48 majority.

A two-thirds vote is required to remove Menendez from office even after a criminal conviction, meaning at least 15 Democrat senators would need to side with Republicans to effectuate it, if the lawmaker does not resign of his own accord, according to USA Today.

The late Ted Stevens of Alaska was the last senator to be convicted in office. The verdict, which was overturned six months later, came down in October 2008, weeks before he faced re-election.

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