Bryant and Gallagher, a former dean at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, each were indicted in March on 13 counts of corruption, fraud and bribery.
Federal prosecutors said Gallagher arranged for Bryant to get a no-show job at UMDNJ's School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford. In exchange, Bryant, the former chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, allegedly steered millions of dollars to the school.
Gallagher also was accused of a separate scheme to pay himself bonuses. He resigned from the school in 2006.
Bryant was accused of holding two other public, no-show jobs - one as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University's Camden campus, the other representing the Gloucester County Board of Social Services.
Prosecutors said that holding all three jobs at once nearly tripled the value of his public pension.
Bryant announced this year that he would retire from his law firm and not run for reelection.
Defense motions said Bryant had supported UMDNJ and the osteopathic school before and after his employment there.
"The indictment . . . does not allege that defendant Bryant took any official action - such as voting in a way that helped UMDNJ - that he was not already going to take," one of the motions said.
Another motion said the indictment "charges bribery without a bribe."
The defense also noted that, in New Jersey, public officials long have been permitted to hold more than one public job. That's been considered accepted practice in New Jersey law, not a crime, the motions said.
One Bryant motion also said the charges were "rife with ambiguity," and the only way the grand jurors could have indicted the senator was if they were given bad instructions on the law.
"It is simply not possible for the grand jury to have returned an indictment upon these legally insufficient theories," the motion said.
Bryant's attorneys also said Rutgers and UMDNJ employees who could have given positive testimony about Bryant later refused to speak with defense attorneys.
Their reluctance came after lawyers for both schools had advised them not to speak to the defense, the motions said.
An attorney for Rutgers said she had spoken to the prosecutors handling the Bryant case, but she would not say if those conversations had any effect on her advice to the Rutgers employees, according to the motions.
An attorney for UMDNJ said he did not want the school to be perceived as cooperating with the defense because he did not want to "create any problems" with a federal monitor, appointed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, to oversee the school.
The school agreed to the monitor nearly two years ago to avoid prosecution for Medicaid fraud. It was that monitor who first uncovered many of the allegations against Bryant and Gallagher.
Contact staff writer Troy Graham at 856-779-3893 or tgraham@phillynews.com.
