[Lurking Libertarian]

The original article has a link to the full text of the judge's decision.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Sorry, forgot to indicate that this is an excerpt.

[RustMartialis]

Here come the howling nutters to attack the judge without even bothering to read the decision. INCOMING!!!!

--R.

[Dracian]

The headline is misleading. Multiple repetitions of the same offense were tossed.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

Are our gov't prosecutors so idiotic and puerile that they don't review these cases ahead of time with others, to see if there are any 'problems' before going to court?

[jiggyboy]

''There can be no question that the government has charged a single conspiracy offense multiple times, in separate counts, when in law and in fact only one [alleged] crime has been committed,'' Cooke wrote in an eight-page ruling.

This seems to have become the norm at every level of the judiciary over the past decade or so. I was on a jury a couple of years ago for a guy charged with robbery, some other level of robbery, burglary, some other level of burglary, larceny, and about three other charges. They all amounted to seven ways, some contradicting each other as a matter of law, of describing a single act of breaking a window and stealing a TV.