A New Jersey judge ruled Wednesday that a $25 million Mega Millions lottery ticket belongs to the couple that presented the ticket to lottery officials.

Superior Court Judge Marguerite T. Simon rejected the claim by a group of hospital workers who asserted that the winning Mega Millions ticket really belonged to them.

The decision came after days of conflicting testimony from Cornell and Teri Davis of Englewood, and laboratory technicians from Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, who are part of a regular lottery pool.

The workers said the winning ticket was supposed to have been bought for their pool, but was diverted to the Davises instead.

The Davises presented the winning ticket to New Jersey lottery officials March 17. They are regular customers at Circle Food Market, where the ticket was sold, and testified that Cornell Davis bought the ticket there along with a bottle of Gatorade and a cigar.

The link between the workers and Davises is Jamal Townes, a 27-year-old X-ray technician at the hospital who was in charge of buying tickets for his co-workers' pool.

After the drawing, Townes told his colleagues that their ticket didn't win, according to trial testimony.  But he also knew Cornell Davis.  When he heard the Davises had won, he told people at the hospital they might see him driving a new BMW, according to trial testimony.