The prosecutor, Mr. Holding, had both a "personal stake in the outcome of the case" and an interest in seeking "self-vindication" by publicly embarrassing Mr. Edwards. Were there any question of that before he announced for Congress to capitalize personally and politically from this case, there can be little now.

The decision to prosecute Mr. Edwards was based on a strained reading of federal election laws that had never been applied in a criminal proceeding in this District or anywhere else.

The Indictment was not based on the "usual determinative factors a responsible prosecutor would consider before bringing criminal charges," and the scope of the investigation -- in terms of both manpower and the questions asked of witnesses before the grand jury -- strayed well beyond what was necessary to investigate a non-violent felony.

My favorite part is Team Edwards use of this quote from former Attorney General Robert Jackson in 1940:

The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous. He can have citizens investigated and, if he is that kind of person, he can have this done to the tune of public statements and veiled or unveiled intimations…. Law enforcement is not automatic. It isn't blind. One of the greatest difficulties of the position of prosecutor is that he must pick his cases, because no prosecutor can even investigate all of the cases in which he receives complaints….

If the prosecutor is obliged to choose his cases, it follows that he can choose his defendants. Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted. With the law books filled with a great assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone. In such a case, it is not a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the man who has committed it, it is a question of picking the man and then searching the law books, or putting investigators to work, to pin some offense on him.

It is in this realm -- in which the prosecutor picks some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass, or selects some group of unpopular persons and then looks for an offense, that the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies. It is here that law enforcement becomes personal, and the real crime becomes that of being unpopular with the predominant or governing group, being attached to the wrong political views, or being personally obnoxious to or in the way of the prosecutor himself. The Federal Prosecutor: An Address by Robert H. Jackson, 24 J. Am. Jud. Soc'y 18 (1940).

Edwards' burden in establishing prosecutorial vindictiveness is high.("it is a "rare case" in which a defendant can demonstrate that "the government's decision to prosecute was tainted by improper motivation.")

"To establish prosecutorial vindictiveness, a defendant must show, through objective evidence, that (1) the prosecutor acted with genuine animus toward the defendant and (2) the defendant would not have been prosecuted but for that animus."

In other words, a defendant must demonstrate that the decision to pursue criminal charges "'could not be justified as a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion.'" To satisfy this burden, a defendant must present "some evidence" tending to show that the prosecution resulted from actual vindictive motives.

One factor courts look at is whether there is evidence that the prosecutor had "a personal stake in the outcome of the case" or an interest in seeking "self-vindication." The brief says "To demonstrate actual vindictiveness in this manner, a defendant must present "direct evidence" of genuine animus. So what does Edwards have to support his claim?

As noted above, Mr. Holding crossed political paths with Senator Edwards several times in the past and made campaign contributions to the Republican candidate running against Senator Edwards in 1998. In addition, Mr. Holding has a long history (noted in his campaign materials) of launching high-profile criminal investigations of high-ranking North Carolina Democrats. This Indictment, which generated tremendous publicity, was returned just days before Mr. Holding announced his own candidacy for Congress.

Mr. Holding therefore had both a "personal stake in the outcome of the case" and an interest in seeking "self-vindication."fn6 Mr. Holding's political contributions to Mr. Edwards' opponent and political foes also created an actual or profound appearance of a conflict of interest warranting recusal.fn7 Such a conflict of interest denies a defendant "the possibility of fair minded exercise of the prosecutor's discretion" and violates the Due Process Clause.

.......The actual or appearance of a conflict of interest created by Mr. Holding's Republican political activity thus serves as additional evidence of what the law deems to be genuine animus.

⁶ At some point, prosecutors from Washington, D.C. joined the investigation. By then, however, the toothpaste could not be put back in the tube: Mr. Holding had started the case; changed its direction; expanded it; supervised the case during all the leaks; and spent vast resources that had to be vindicated. Indeed, Mr. Holding never recused himself and it is his name on the actual Indictment. Having spent more than three years pursuing the case in full view of the public, Mr. Holding (then a hold-over Republican) put the new Democratic Administration in a difficult position. If the new Administration would have prevented Mr. Holding from obtaining the Indictment, the Administration itself would be the one accused of playing politics by protecting one of its own. Thus, whether Senator Edwards was indicted or not, Mr. Holding could score political points.

fn7 Indeed, as noted above, Mr. Holding was held-over because President Obama's nominee for U.S. Attorney had donated money to the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004. It is difficult to imagine how a donation in support of the campaign could render someone conflicted, but not a donation against the same candidate.

Edwards' next argument is that "Finally, a defendant may also show actual prosecutorial vindictiveness by presenting evidence "that the decision to pursue an indictment was not based on the usual determinative factors a responsible prosecutor would consider before bringing charges." He argues:

Mr. Holding and those he supervised or work besides failed to take several relevant factors into consideration when he decided to pursue the high-profile indictment of Mr. Edwards. They failed to consult the FEC as to the established meaning of the term "contribution" under federal election laws, choosing instead to pursue criminal charges based upon their own unprecedented and untested interpretation of that term.

They apparently overlooked the requirement that they prove a "knowing" violation of the statute by Mr. Edwards, a task that is all but impossible as not even the former FEC Chairmen charged with interpreting election laws "knew" (or now believe) the term "contribution" encompassed the conduct at issue.

And there's this claim which may raise some eyebrows:

Grand jury witnesses apparently were asked offensive questions that had nothing to do with whether Mr. Edwards knowingly violated federal election laws, but rather were designed to inflame the grand jury pool and ensure a high-profile Indictment. Courts have found such tactics to evidence vindictiveness.

Remember those reports about grand jury witnesses being asked about John Edwards' sex life? Perhaps they were true. Next, Edwards argues:

Moreover, the sheer size of the federal task force employed by Mr. Holding to investigate a non-violent felony raises questions about the motivations of the prosecutors. Even after they determined that none of the alleged violations described in the Preliminary Inquiry Memo had been committed, the prosecutors assembled a team of at least 56 federal agents to conduct 150 witness interviews in search of a new theory for an indictment.

There is simply no explanation for a taxpayer-funded investigation of this scope unless the intent was to dig up anything and everything possible on Mr. Edwards. After vesting so many resources over so many years, and having generated so much publicity about the investigation, Mr. Holding could ill afford a decision not to bring charges. This is precisely what Justice Jackson warned against, a prosecutor who investigates a man in search of a crime, rather than a prosecutor who investigates a crime in search of a culprit. The "extensive amount of FBI resources devoted to this case" is additional evidence of actual vindictiveness.

There's also an allegation the Government improperly used Andrew Young to get copies of secret documents:

In addition, prosecutors, through Mr. Young, obtained Mr. Edwards’ confidential deposition from a separate civil action between Ms. Hunter and Mr. Young, which involves matters distinct from this case. Despite Protective Orders making the deposition confidential, prohibiting the parties from providing it to third parties, and requiring notice of any effort by third parties to obtain the materials, the government issued a secret subpoena and obtained secret federal court orders regarding the deposition. The result was that it secretly got the deposition.

Around the same time, Mr. Young filed a motion to compel regarding Mr. Edwards, seeking additional sworn testimony in that civil case on matters related exclusively to this criminal action. Although the full degree of interaction between the prosecutors and their cooperating witness, Mr. Young, points is not yet clear, it would be highly improper for the government to seek to use a civil action to secretly obtain what it could never get in this criminal case—a deposition of Mr. Edwards on the issues in this case.

To prove its claim, the defense is asking for:

"(1) All pre-indictment notes, emails, memoranda, and correspondence with investigatory agencies relating to [Mr. Edwards'] indictment; (2) All correspondence with attorneys for [the government's key witnesses, including Andrew Young]; and (3) Any other documents in the possession of the Government that relate to the decision to prosecute [Mr. Edwards]." Among these documents should be correspondence between and among the prosecutors and staff concerning: (1) the merits of the case, (2) requests for resource, (3) contacts with the media, (4) contact with the FEC, and (5) ....[sic]

Edwards filed several other motions to dismiss. One alleges grand jury irregularities, one alleges improper venue, one says the conspiracy count should be dismissed for failure to state a crime, and one says the law gives insufficient notice of what's prohibited and no one's ever been prosecuted for conduct similar to that in this case.