New York City Mayor Eric Adams
asked a judge on Monday to set an earlier trial date in
his federal corruption case
next year, arguing the current date would impede Adams’ participation in his mayoral reelection campaign, according to court documents.
In a letter to the court, Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, requested the trial to begin weeks earlier on April 1, rather than later that month.
Spiro said the current late-May conclusion of the trial would take place one month before ballots are cast in the Democratic primary and sideline Adams “for the vast majority of his remaining reelection campaign, during many of the most important moments.”
“An earlier trial date will ensure that Mayor Adams’s speedy trial rights are upheld, that the Mayor will be able to fully participate in his reelection campaign and that this City’s voters can be rid of the distraction of this misguided indictment as they hear from and evaluate the Democratic candidates for Mayor on their merits,” said Spiro.
He added that the prosecution will “cast a cloud” over Adams’ campaign until it’s resolved by a New York jury at trial.
The tough-on-crime former NYPD captain
pleaded not guilty
to federal corruption charges in September after he was hit with five criminal counts, including bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
Adams pledged to fight the charges and stay on as mayor.
Prosecutors alleged in the indictment that Adams accepted illegal campaign contributions, airline upgrades and luxury hotel stays from Turkish nationals and at least one government official in exchange for political favors, according to court filings.
“This was a multiyear scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference in September.
Adams — who is the first sitting mayor of New York City to face criminal charges in the modern era — asked the court in late September to dismiss the bribery charge in his federal indictment, adding that the government’s allegations were “extraordinarily vague.”
Federal prosecutors pushed back on the mayor’s motion to dismiss the bribery charge, saying that even though Adams “claims that accepting tens of thousand of dollars’ worth of benefits in exchange for pressuring a City agency is ‘routine’ and ‘common.’ But however routine that may have been for Adams, the law permits a jury to conclude that it was nonetheless illegal.”
The court has yet to respond to Adams’ request for a rescheduled trial date, and as of now, he is set to go to trial on April 21.
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