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Defense Lawyers Use U.S. Attorney Firing Scandal to Challenge Prosecutions

The LA Times reports on how defense lawyers across the country are using the U.S. Attorney firing scandal to challenge political prosecutions.

Defense lawyers in a growing number of cases are raising questions about the motives of government lawyers who have brought charges against their clients. In court papers, they are citing the furor over the U.S. attorney dismissals as evidence that their cases may have been infected by politics.

Justice officials say those concerns are unfounded and constitute desperate measures by desperate defendants. But the affair has given defendants and their lawyers some new energy, which is complicating life for the prosecutors.

Will the challenges resonate with jurors? I wonder how much evidence about it the Judges will allow into evidence.

Even so, the Justice Department is likely to find itself facing more discovery requests based on the scandal.

More...

For example,

Lawyers for a former county official in Delaware who has been accused of corruption asked a judge in early May to allow them to subpoena the Justice Department and White House for documents to see whether political motives factored into charges being brought against the official. They cited the brewing controversy inside the Beltway.

I do think we will see a lot more discovery requests.

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    And this is one of the problems (none / 0) (#1)
    by lilybart on Mon Jun 18, 2007 at 03:15:21 PM EST
    with what Bushco has done to our system of Justice. If prosecutors are seen as partisans, then all decisions will be suspect.

    it will take years to undo their damage to this country

    DOJ and FUBAR? I guess so. Thanks GWB. (none / 0) (#2)
    by JSN on Mon Jun 18, 2007 at 03:29:49 PM EST