Posted on 05/10/2018 10:45:17 AM PDT by sickoflibs
Last week I posted on the humiliation special counsel Robert Mueller’s crack team suffered in federal court in Virginia. In February, Mueller indicted three Russian companies and thirteen individual Russians…who may or may not exist…for various crimes in connection with the 2016 campaign. The indictment looked to be bullsh** from the beginning as it makes running an anonymous Facebook page during an election a federal crime. More to the point, the indictment was a public affairs gimmick. Mueller had been under criticism for his indictments having zero to do with investigating Russian collusion. They were either existing financial crimes that predated the election by years or “gotcha” lying to investigators indictments. The indictment of Russians who were never expected to appear in court seemed like an easy scam to run on a credulous media.
Then an unforeseen event happened. One of the companies, Concord Management, retained US counsel from a high profile litigation firm in April. They contacted Mueller’s team who ignored them. Last week, the government was in court arguing that trial must be delayed because Concord Management had not been properly served with notice because the special counsel had decided to ignore the fact that US counsel was available. It was also revealed that not only had the special counsel’s office refused to respond to discovery requests from Concord, they had refused to even acknowledge receiving them. The judge was not amused and ordered a hearing for yesterday to plan the way forward on the case.
Yesterday, Concord’s attorneys entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of their client and demanded their right to a speedy trial which is required to commence within thirty days unless delayed for reasons specified in law.
The real fight here is going to be over discovery. Concord in entitled to have the evidence the government used to bring the indictments. Some, if not all, of that information is secret so the government is going to try to convince the court that it doesn’t have to give it up. The safe bet, in this case, is that it ends up being dropped because there was probably not enough evidence, classified or otherwise, to indict Concord in the first place.
"In February, Mueller indicted three Russian companies and thirteen individual Russians…who may or may not exist…for various crimes in connection with the 2016 campaign. The indictment looked to be bullsh** from the beginning as it makes running an anonymous Facebook page during an election a federal crime.
required to commence within thirty days .....
...Title I of the Speedy Trial Act of 1974, 88 Stat. 2080, as amended August 2, 1979, 93 Stat. 328, is set forth in 18 U.S.C. §§ 3161-3174. The Act establishes time limits for completing the various stages of a federal criminal prosecution. The information or indictment must be filed within 30 days from the date of arrest or service of the summons. 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b). Trial must commence within 70 days from the date the information or indictment was filed, or from the date the defendant appears before an officer of the court in which the charge is pending, whichever is later. 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1).
...
https://www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-628-speedy-trial-act-1974
Unless the defendants are present I don’t think the trial can commence with just their Lawyers. This isn’t a civil case. It’s criminal. They can be declared guilty in absentia but not innocent.
mueller’s omniscience is starting to look merelyscience.
He may resign soon rather than be subject to legal sanctions for abusing his role.
THAT would be the funniest event of my adult life!
Discovery is where bogus litigation goes to die. Mueller played himself. There is probably some type of fast track system in the particular court in which Mueller filed. That would mean he had a specified number of days to effect service of process after filing.
The idea is to keep cases moving and not let the system get choked. And to discourage bs filings.
Would be delightful to see Mueller smacked with sanctions right out of the gate.
Strike everything I just said. It applies to civil trials.
The attorneys can enter not guilty pleas on behalf of defendants without defendants being present. There are several stages to go through before a trial can actually commence.
I would so love for the Judge to demand that Mueller show up at the next hearing.
Charges are against the company not individuals.
Concord Management is a company, so individuals do not need to be present. Also, a defendant can waive personal appearance for preliminary hearings.
The limit on service of process in Virginia is 10 days before the court date. The statute doesn’t specify if it’s 10 business days.
If it doesn’t specify ten businesses days, it’s ten calendar days, which is typical for the courts with a roll over for weekends and holidays.
Wait a minute. The prosecution is claiming proper service wasn’t followed while I’m sitting in court?
Methinks these prosecutors need to be disbarred.
5.56mm
Libs now discover “lawfare” works both ways.
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