The Chart the Traffic Court Judges Didn’t Want The Jury To See

They are worried that it makes them look like the mafia.

The corruption trial of former Philadelphia Traffic Court judges is underway, and this is a chart that some of the defendants in the ticket-fixing case asked the judge to exclude.

Their concern was that the chart would be “extremely prejudicial,” fearing that the graphic entered into evidence by the U.S. Attorney appeared “to be a simulation of an organized crime, mafia family,” wrote one of the attorneys in a motion.

Judge Lawrence Stengel denied the motion, and the prosecution was allowed to use it in its opening statement to the jury on Tuesday. Below, listen to audio of Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Wolf explaining the chart during that statement.

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