A New Jersey defense attorney charged with murder and racketeering claims in a recent court filing that government prosecutors used witnesses against him that they knew were lying.

Paul Bergrin
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Paul Bergrin's claims are made in a brief that was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Newark. Bergrin, who once represented rap stars and other entertainers, seeks an evidence hearing and says the government urged witnesses to lie at his murder trial last fall.

In a letter filed Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office denies the charges and calls them a stalling tactic.

Bergrin's first trial ended in a hung jury. He faces a retrial and has also petitioned to have the murder counts severed from more than two dozen other counts he faces, including racketeering and drug trafficking.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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