Ex-Christie Allies Make Bridgegate Appeal Arguments Tuesday

The next chapter of the Bridgegate traffic scandal began Tuesday when attorneys for two former aides to ex-governor Chris Christie made oral arguments in federal appeals court for their clients' convictions to be overturned.

Attorneys for Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly were scheduled to argue before a three-judge panel in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday morning.

The attorneys are expected to argue that prosecutors did not apply federal law correctly to Baroni's and Kelly's March 2017 convictions, according to the Associated Press.

The oral arguments are just part of the appeals process. Paperwork is filed with the 3rd Circuit, which the panel considers along with the arguments. Each side gets about 15 minutes to argue their case, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney's Office said. It could take the panel weeks to make a decision.

U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton sentenced Baroni, Christie's top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to two years in prison. Kelly, a mother of four, was sentenced to 18 months.

Kelly and Baroni were found guilty in November of all charges — conspiracy, wire fraud and civil rights violations — connected to the scandal, which involved shutting down several local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee as retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not endorsing Christie for reelection in 2013.

Sokolich said that Kelly, 44, and Baroni, 45, did what they did with "a callous disregard for public safety and the lives of many people."

David Wildstein, the Christie-appointed Port Authority official also behind Bridgegate, has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy.

Long-time Christie confidant David Samson, who some believed had a role in the Bridgegate scheme but was never charged for it, pleaded guilty in July to demanding a bribe while he was chairman of the Port Authority.

Related: Chris Christie Knew All About Bridgegate While It Was Happening, Prosecutors Say
Related: Christie, Cuomo Conspired In Bridgegate Cover-Up, Ex-Christie Ally Testifies

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Lead photo: Bridget Anne Kelly, former deputy chief of staff to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, exits the Martin Luther King Jr. federal courthouse following her sentencing on March 29, 2017 in Newark. Kelly was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was sentenced to two years at separate hearings in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closing case. Both must also serve 500 hours of community service.

Second photo: Bill Baroni (Photos by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)