Based on the Fokker precedent, Judge Sullivan has no legal right to refuse to dismiss the case when the prosecution wants to dismiss the case
Posted on | May 14, 2020 | 2 Comments
Under the Fokker Case that just came out 2 years ago, the DC Circuit which governs Judge Sullivan made it very clear if the government wants to dismiss a case you cannot, the District Court cannot refuse to do so because he doesn’t like the government’s theory. Because he thinks the government should continue the case. And it doesn’t matter if the defendant has pled or not.
DC Circuit’s prior decision on Fokker case PROHIBITS Judge Sullivan to refuse to dismiss the case after prosecution stated that they want to dismiss.
I believe there will be a writ of mandate to the DC circuit. It is absolutely shocking, the level of bias against Flynn in unprecedented. Judge Sullivan read an article about Flynn’s case by Gleason. Gleason is clearly biased against Flynn. Gleason has zero standing to be in the case at all, to argue anything at all, and Sullivan bringing him in the case shows an unprecedented level of bias against the defendant by a judge. This is the same judge who previously baselessly accused Flyn of treason, but later retracted his statement after an outcry.
Since the Arthur Andersen prosecution in which thousands of innocent workers lost their jobs, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has increasingly turned to deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) to avoid the collateral consequences of a corporate criminal conviction.1.SeeBrandon L. Garrett, Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations 41, 44, 55 (2014). In a DPA, the government agrees to dismiss filed charges if a corporation complies with negotiated conditions that are aimed at punishing the misconduct and allowing the corporation to demonstrate rehabilitation. Traditionally, judicial scrutiny over the DPA’s terms has been “essentially nonexistent.”2. Mike Koehler, Measuring the Impact of Non-Prosecution and Deferred Prosecution Agreements on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement, 49 UC Davis L. Rev. 497, 505 (2015) (citing U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office, GAO-10-110, Corporate Crime 8, 25 (2009)); see also U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office, supra, at 25 (reporting, based on a survey of twelve U.S. district and magistrate judges who handled cases involving a DPA, that judges “were generally not involved in the DPA process”). However, three recent district court decisions have attempted to assert a more substantive role for the court — declaring that an Article III judge is not a “potted plant”3. United States v. HSBC Bank USA, N.A., No. 12-CR-763, 2013 WL 3306161, at *5 (E.D.N.Y. July 1, 2013); see also United States v. Saena Tech Corp., 140 F. Supp. 3d 11, 33 (D.D.C. 2015) (quoting HSBC Bank, 2013 WL 3306161, at *5). or “rubber stamp”4. United States v. Fokker Servs. B.V., 79 F. Supp. 3d 160, 164 (D.D.C. 2015). when reviewing DPAs. The D.C. Circuit subsequently curtailed these efforts in United States v. Fokker Services B.V.,5. 818 F.3d 733 (D.C. Cir. 2016). in which it held that to preserve “the Executive’s long-settled primacy over charging,”6.Id. at 743. a court is not authorized to reject a DPA based on a finding that the “charging decisions” and “conditions agreed to in the DPA” are inadequate.7.Id. at 747. By ostensibly precluding judicial review of a DPA’s negotiated terms, the D.C. Circuit overcorrected and reinforced the executive branch’s unchecked discretion over DPAs by reassuring prosecutors that future courts will rubber stamp such agreements.
The Harvard article continues noting the Judge in the Fokker case stated that:
…as a matter of established law, the judiciary is not to second-guess the Executive’s decisions of “whether to initiate charges, whom to prosecute, which charges to bring, and whether to dismiss charges.”
Sol Weisenberg discussed this matter on Laura Ingraham show. Weisenberg is the former Whitewater prosecutor.
Comments
2 Responses to “Based on the Fokker precedent, Judge Sullivan has no legal right to refuse to dismiss the case when the prosecution wants to dismiss the case”
Leave a Reply
May 15th, 2020 @ 7:04 am
Impeach the douche bag! Those in power don’t care about the rule of law, but, want to preach it to everyone else!
May 15th, 2020 @ 7:09 am
Just like the douche bag who presided over Roger Stone trial. She should’ve been appalled and furious that the prosecution had hidden exculpatory evidence and prosecuted a case based on a crime that never happened yet, she disregarded the rule of law. Tar and feathers, must we go back to those days?