General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Christie Crime Digest Volume III [View all]Laxman
(2,419 posts)that's a good one about the diet!
But now to the heart of the matter. Begin with the premise that the U.S. Attorney DID NOT make a deal with Wildstein just to get to Kelly and Baroni. He made the deal to squeeze them. Accepting that as the starting point we can move on. First, you do not make a deal with the most culpable co-defendant in a case. That is Plea Bargaining 101. Knowing that they did not make the deal with the most culpable, we can then assume that the U.S. Attorney has sufficient reason-or evidence (beyond merely Wildstein's testimony) to believe that Kelly and Baroni are more responsible for this caper than Wildstein. We can also assume that the U.S. Attorney's office has developed enough information to suspect (believe) that Kelly and Baroni have information to provide that will implicate others. The pressure is now on these two knuckleheads. Kelly leads to Christie's inner circle, Baroni leads to Samson. Both are one step away from Christie. He's working his way up the chain.
Kelly has been sending up signals she wanted to make a deal for a year. Wildstein has been working on cutting this deal for a year. No deal was cut until Fishman's office conducted enough of an investigation to establish the elements listed above. Now Kelly is practically screaming "make a deal with me!". These two are not going to trial and this saga is not ending with these three indictments.