No new trial for Cold Cash Jefferson

The Hill:

A federal judge has denied former Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) request for a new trial.

Jefferson had requested the new trial based in part on the judge’s refusal to allow the jury to hear about a sexual relationship between a government informant — who wore a wire and recorded conversations with the defendant — and an FBI agent assigned to the corruption case.

Judge T.S. Ellis III, the same judge who heard the original case, determined the issue wasn’t relevant because the government relied only on recorded conversations between the informant, Lori Mody, and Jefferson and did not call her as a witness in the trial or enter any other statements from her into the record, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

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The judge's reasoning make sense to me. I am always a little suspect when parties want to bring extraneous material into a case. It sounds like they just want to throw a skunk in the jury box on an issue of no importance.