After going without a bill, the DOJ attempts to present its case to the local grand jury. The court is not amused.

The DOJ was slapped again last night by Federal Judge Zia Faruqui. The beating occurred in the case of Kevontae Stewart, a Washington, D.C. resident who was sitting in his car on September 17, smoking a joint and not bothering anyone, when ATF agents began harassing him. Prosecutors filed a criminal complaint alleging that Stewart ran away and attempted to dispose of a firearm, which he was not allowed to possess due to a prior criminal conviction. But the grand jury didn’t believe him, and the DOJ got not billedas they have done repeatedly since Jeanine Pirro was sworn in as US Attorney for the District and began accusing everyone she could get her hands on with pissing nonsense.

But Pirro was feeling bubbly as a box of Franzia was left in the sun, so on September 26, the same day prosecutors were not charged by the federal grand jury, her office took Stewart’s case to a local grand jury convened by Washington Superior Court. This panel was more cooperative, and on September 29, the DOJ attempted to present the local indictment to Magistrate Faruqui. And then all hell broke loose.

“This desire to have people indicted and arrested at all costs loses credibility every day in court,” judges Faruqui. railedadding, “You can’t even get grand juries back now, because the public seems to have lost all trust in the process.” »

The court refused to accept the indictment and ordered a briefing on the legality of using a grand jury in Washington Superior Court to return an indictment to federal court, a process the court described as potentially illegal and, to say the least, improper.

But Pirro’s office didn’t respond — or at least not immediately. He first asked to speak to the director, registering a emergency motion to leave Information order from Judge Faruqui. The government insisted that the role of the magistrate is purely ministerial and therefore the court had no discretion to dismiss the indictment. But they got no joy from Chief Justice James Boasberg, who refused to overturn the briefing order, directing prosecutors to appeal any final order if they were still angry about it.

The government’s position is as follows: DC Code § 11-1916 empowers a local grand jury to “take cognizance of all matters brought before it, whether the indictment may be returned to the federal or District of Columbia courts.” They point the finger United States v. Sealsa 1997 D.C. Circuit case in which the court authorized federal prosecution when the grand jury indictment was obtained by a jury convened by the D.C. Superior Court. But, as Stewart pointed out in his own Shortthis case preceded the adoption of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by five years. FRCrP 6 empowers “the court” – i.e. a federal judge – to constitute a grand jury. And as Judge Faruqui pointed out in his order dropping this indictment, FRCrP 1 specifically states that DC Superior Court judges are not federal judges.

There is also a minor problem which, unlike back then SealsDC and federal grand jury selection procedures are not the same. And…does the DOJ seriously argue that a local law can bind the federal judiciary? WTF?????

“This litigation and the delays it caused could have been avoided if the government had simply gone to one of the other federal grand juries. That escape route remains open today,” Judge Faruqui concluded. “At any time, the government can short-circuit this dispute by bringing its federal charges before a federal grand jury. The question then becomes, why are they now afraid to do that?”

The government angrily announces that it will appeal to Chief Justice Boasberg again. But if they bet wrong, they’re going to get into a little trouble. They have 30 days from September 18, the date of the initial complaint, to charge Stewart, the poor guy who was smoking a J in his own car and found himself in the middle of this ridiculous pissing game.

Fortunately he wasn’t driving at 190 km/h in 65, otherwise he real problem.

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces Law and Chaos sub-pile And podcast.