Stepien's lawyer was in court today

[malaise]

http://www.northjersey.com/news/unremarkable-gwb-evidence-not-enough-to-turn-over-documents-stepien-s-lawyer-says-1.748182
<snip>
Governor Christie's former campaign manager argued in court papers filed Friday that the "unremarkable" evidence linking him to the George Washington Bridge lane closures -- 12 e-mail and text messages -- is not enough for a judge to force him to turn over documents in response to a legislative subpoena.

In a brief filed Friday, Bill Stepien's attorney said that most of the one dozen messages lawmakers have made public merely show that Stepien was kept informed of press coverage after the lane closures. And attorney Kevin Marino dismissed the single e-mail sent to Stepien while the lanes were still closed--the e-mail contained a letter the Fort Lee mayor had written to the Port Authority speculating that the closures were "punitive"--as understandable given the "public-relations ramifications for the campaign," only months before the governor's re-election.

The committee maintains that any documents related to the closures are public records. It also submitted to the judge earlier this week dozens of messages that it argues show Stepien and Kelly were "central" to the lane closure scheme.

The committee is trying to establish that it's a "foregone conclusion" that Stepien and Kelly have relevant documents based on the information collected so far.

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I agree - we should have a decision on this next week.
By the way - is Stepien going to work with Pawlenty (of that other bridge fame)?

[Gothmog]

1. The foregone conclusion language is from the Hubble case

The concept is that prosecutors can not do fishing expeditions and overly broad subpoenas for documents that they do not know exist. Here it is very clear that Stepian as in the loop and was part of the conspiracy that approved the bridge closing and the coverup of the bridge closing.

I really think that Stepian and Kelly will have to produce their e-mails