Cavanaugh systematically addressed each of the 23 criminal counts of which Bergrin was found guilty. There are decades of prison time added to the six life sentences and they will run concurrent with the multiple prison sentences, which are also concurrent.
Bergrin argued during the 3-hour sentencing hearing for exceptions, but the judge rejected all arguments raised by Bergrin and his court-appointed supporting counsel.
But his pleas had no effect on the court.
Bergrin had faced 23 counts ranging from conspiracy to murder a federal witness to racketeering, and his trial lasted eight weeks. At the end the jury convicted him after two days of deliberation. It was found that Bergrin had used his former law office in Newark as a front for racketeering operations and those operations included witness tampering, drug trafficking, promoting prostitution, and plotting the murder of witnesses.
The charge for organizing the murder of Kemo Deshawn McCray, a FBI informant had resulted earlier in a hung jury, but this time the jury found the evidence decidedly against Bergrin.
McCray was shot in the head in 2004 in Newark. The gunman who admitted to the shooting testified that Bergrin had told the members of his client's gang that his client would probably spend his life in prison. And then he looked at them and suggested, "No Kemo, no case."
