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The State of ‘Justice’ in the U.S.
 [RedState] Last week the case of January 6 defendant Lucas Denney gained considerable attention when the defense sought Mr. Denney’s release because of two Government violations of his pre-trial rights. Denney had been locked up for more than 80 days without having a Preliminary Hearing (to which he was entitled within 14 days) or being indicted within 30 days of his arrest, as required by the Speedy Trial Act. The defense filed separate motions for these violations.To prevent the court from releasing Denney, the Government rushed through an indictment last Monday only hours before a magistrate judge was to consider the first defense motion. While this maneuver succeeded in keeping Denney locked up, in its hurry the Government charged Denney with only one count of assaulting a federal officer rather than the 12 offenses for which he was originally arrested on a Complaint. Doubtless, the Government intended to later obtain a superseding indictment against Denney that would include all 12 original charges. Today, however, when Denney was brought before the court to be arraigned on that single charge, he surprised the Government and the court by seeking to plead guilty to it. This was very astute lawyering by Denney’s counsel to take advantage of the Government’s tactical misstep. By pleading to a one-count indictment, Denney obtains a better resolution than the Government would have ever offered him as a plea deal, and the constitutional protection against double jeopardy would prevent the Government from bringing the additional charges against Denney. In the chess match of criminal procedure, it was a checkmate move by the defense. But the court temporarily halted the move by refusing to let Denney enter a plea, saying that it wanted to research the issue. Thus, after a bit of drama today, the saga isn’t finished yet. It will resume on Thursday when Denney is again brought before the court. I have no words for this. Posted by: Deacon Blues 2022-03-16 |
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