PBP: Free Jim Comey! Free Tish James!

That guy definitely would have had a legitimate denial-of-his-right-to-a-speedy-trial motion. And if his attorney didn't file one, he'd have an ineffective assistance of counsel claim.

 

It can---sometimes. But as I mentioned above, if a prosecutor "dropped" lesser charges, assuming said charges could be considered lesser-included offenses of the "more serious charge," the defendant could request that the trial judge still instruct the jury on those lesser charges. And if there's any evidence supporting the lesser offense, it's reversible error for the trial judge to refuse to do so.

 

Since DC is federal, there is limited things she could do. And also because the Republicans control the DC budget, she kind of had to play nice. But where she could, she did push back.

 

A request of Lindsey the Insurance Lawyer.

https://annabower.substack.com/p/watchdog-group-files-bar-ethics-complaint

A watchdog group has asked the Florida and Virginia state bars to investigate Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging that she violated professional ethics rules while pursuing criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

In a 17-page complaint filed on Tuesday, the non-profit Campaign for Accountability said Halligan may have committed multiple violations of legal ethics, including by pursuing cases unsupported by probable cause.​

 

In my experience, public defenders are quite often rather good at what they do, especially those in larger metropolitan areas. It's assigned/appointed counsel (ie., not government employees but private attorneys who contract with the courts for appointments in criminal cases) who are often not exactly stellar at their job.

Most, not all obviously, PDs are zealots, true believers. They're in that job because they want to be and devote a ton of energy to it despite being overworked and underpaid. Appointed counsel are often jacks-of-all-trades-masters-of-none, who might handle an armed robbery one week and a termination of parental rights case the next. Often they take such appointments to supplement their other work and, thus, may be just as swamped but without the criminal law expertise.

 

The word "obvious" in your comment is doing the heavy lifting. It's difficult to tell from this article what was obvious and what wasn't. His counsel saying that much of this is "newly discovered" leads me to infer (perhaps incorrectly) that it might have been requested previously, but she was told by the former DA that it didn't exist or was lost or whatever.

 

For the fifteen years he was on the bench, my father in law thought that the single best lawyer in the county was our public defender. He used to marvel at folks who spent money at our boutique law firm or tried to bring in counsel from Baltimore. "Why spend all that money when you can have Michael X for free?"

 

Is Lindsey the Insurance Lawyer valid? I mean to be in EVDA. Comey wants to know.

From Xwitter.

NEW: The fate of the Trump-ordered prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James hinges on today’s argument about whether Lindsey Halligan — the only prosecutor to sign the indictments — was legitimately appointed. ​

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/13/lindsey-halligan-hearing-james-comey-case-00649724