Judge ruled DoJ engaged in āprofound investigative misstepsā on way to indicting the former FBI director
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick ruled on Monday that the justice department engaged in a ādisturbing pattern of profound investigative misstepsā on its way to indicting Comey. The federal judge directed prosecutors to produce to defense lawyers all grand jury materials from the case.
Fitzpatrick wrote that problems include āfundamental misstatements of the lawā by a prosecutor to a grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications in the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.
āThe Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,ā Fitzpatrick wrote, adding: āHowever, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.ā
Charges would be dismissed. An appeal to a higher court cannot happen if thereās no charges. Appeals happen after a verdict.
Right, and in general, itās very hard for the prosecution to appeal the case, anyway. Can in some rare circumstances, but generally, they have one shot at things. Thatās why the DOJ usually moves so slowly on everything. They build a very, very airtight case before they even start the grand jury process.
Youāve heard of competence porn. Now weāve got incompetence porn.
Ahhhhh. Ok. Thatās the secret sauce I was missing.