美国纽约：因陪审员被困电梯，参议员Bob Menendez受贿一案休庭一周

由于陪审员被困电梯，对参议员Bob Menendez的审判暂停一周

　　纽约(美联社)——周二，对参议员Bob Menendez受贿一案的审判进入了为期一周的休庭，此前一天，联邦法院的陪审员们在听取控方关于贿赂案的陈述后，因溢水被迫撤离会议室，而后被困在电梯里。

　　法官Sidney H. Stein说，原本预计仅需十分钟的午间休息，却因电梯故障导致陪审员被困，整个过程持续了近半小时。

　　电梯故障发生时，陪审员们正乘电梯前往另一间会议室，因为原定周一使用的会议室因周末忘记关闭水龙头，导致会议室的地毯被浸湿。在陪审员获救后，Stein法官幽默地提醒他们：“下次别再挤在同一部电梯里了。”

　　在这一意外发生之际，检察官正逐步通过证据构建对这位民主党参议员的指控，力求说服陪审团认定Menendez及其两位共同被告——两位新泽西州商人——有罪。检方声称，这两名商人向Menendez行贿，包括金条、数十万美元现金和一辆豪车。

　　现年70岁的Menendez来自新泽西州的恩格尔伍德悬崖(Englewood Cliffs)，他与两位商人的辩护律师均坚称Menendez无罪，并指责政府企图将政治家与其支持者之间的正常互动定性为犯罪行为。

Trial of Sen. Bob Menendez takes a weeklong break after jurors get stuck in elevator

　　NEW YORK (AP) — The trial of Sen. Bob Menendez grinded to a weeklong break on Tuesday after federal court jurors who were treated to a brick-by-brick build of the prosecution’s bribery case got stuck in an elevator a day after they were forced from their usual assembly room because of flooding.

　　Judge Sidney H. Stein said jurors were trapped in an elevator for several minutes during what was supposed to be a 10-minute late-afternoon break that lasted almost a half hour.

　　The elevator breakdown came as jurors were shuttled between floors to an assembly room because carpeting in their usual assembly room just outside the courtroom was found to be soaked on Monday after somebody left sink faucets on over the weekend. As jurors left for the day, Stein humorously warned them: “Don’t all get into one elevator.”

　　The mishap came on a day when prosecutors slowly tried to build their case against the Democrat with evidence they hoped would score points with jurors against Menendez and his two co-defendants — two New Jersey businessmen who the government claims paid him bribes consisting of gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a car.

　　Lawyers for Menendez, 70, of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and the businessmen say their clients are not guilty and that the government is trying to turn common interactions between a politician and his constituents into crimes.