The politically motivated George Washington Bridge access lane closures at the center of the Bridgegate scandal were not a crime, co-defendants William Baroni Jr. and Bridget Kelly have asserted in appeals of their criminal convictions.

In briefs filed on Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Baroni and Kelly argued that their conviction under 18 U.S.C. §666 for allocation of public property based on political motives represents a misuse of that statute. Baroni and Kelly were convicted under the law's proscription on misapplication of government property, but they argue in court papers that their closure of toll booth access lanes used by Fort Lee residents merely allowed the use of those toll booths by other drivers. And the redirection of government property to a legitimate public use cannot be deemed a crime simply because it was done with an allegedly improper motive, Baroni and Kelly claim.

Baroni, a former deputy director at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly, who was Gov. Chris Christie's deputy chief of staff, were convicted of a long list of charges in connection with the lane closures in November 2016. Prosecutors claimed that the traffic gridlock in Fort Lee that resulted was intended as a payback for a decision by that town's Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, not to endorse the re-election campaign of Christie, a Republican. U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton issued sentences of 24 months in jail for Baroni and 18 months for Kelly. David Wildstein, another of Christie's Port Authority appointees who participated in the scheme, was sentenced to three years' probation after testifying against Baroni and Kelly.