The prosecution of political opponents is a function of banana republics that more and more infects the U.S. A living proof is the prosecution of former GOP Gov.
Rick Snyder
within the Flint water case, which a unanimous state Supreme Court declared invalid this week.
Democrats claimed the previous Governor and his employees ignored Flint’s drawback with lead-tainted water, by no means thoughts that the Obama Environmental Protection Agency knew about it and did nothing. Democratic Attorney General
Dana Nessel
ordered Solicitor General
Fadwa Hammoud
and Wayne County Prosecutor
Kym Worthy
to analyze the Flint fiasco.
In January 2021, Ms. Hammoud introduced two misdemeanor prices towards Mr. Snyder for willful neglect of responsibility, every punishable by as much as a 12 months in jail. Eight different public officers had been indicted. All pleaded not responsible.
We’ve beforehand reported that Ms. Hammoud seized paperwork from the state AG’s workplace associated to a civil lawsuit within the Flint case that had been protected by attorney-client privilege. When caught, she resisted hiring a “taint team” to exclude privileged paperwork. She additionally did not comply with authorized conventions that shield defendants’ due course of, because the state Supreme Court explains.
Prosecutors relied on a one-man “grand jury” that “considered the evidence not in a public courtroom but in secret, a Star Chamber comeback,” Chief Justice
Bridget Mary McCormack
writes. “The one-man grand jury then issued charges. To this day, the defendants do not know what evidence the prosecution presented to convince the grand jury (i.e., juror) to charge them.”
State legislation permits for one-person grand juries in choose instances involving public corruption however requires procedural safeguards. Ms. Hammoud’s one-man grand jury—a Genesee County choose—didn’t comply with these guidelines. Mr. Snyder’s group is submitting a movement to dismiss the costs primarily based on the ruling.
Yet Ms. Hammoud is unapologetic. “The Citizens of Flint should know that these cases are not over,” she mentioned in response to the authorized rebuke. Her
Moby Dick
pursuit of Mr. Snyder for what was a authorities failure, not a felony act, has set an terrible precedent that will come again to hang-out Democrats when Republicans subsequent take energy.
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Appeared within the July 1, 2022, print version.
Source: www.wsj.com”