Thread by @McAdooGordon

Denney Case: Govt Concedes Motion to Dismiss

I TOLD YOU SO.

The Govt just filed it's Response to the Motion to Dismiss & admits the case must be dismissed for violation of the Speedy Trial Act. They just want it to be w/o prejudice to refile it.

Link: drive.google.com/file/d/1gXOD3j…

Here's the more important language: Page 6

They knew this last week.

And dismissal means Denney MUST BE RELEASED.

They just wanted time to brief whether they can refile the charges, so they were perfectly happy to let him sit in jail for another week. It's despicable.

They argue that no time has run on the clock for the 70 day deadline to take the case to trial (which is different from the 30 days to indict) because that only begins to run at the arraignment.That argument is wrong. They still can't read the Speedy Trial Act statute apparently.

The govt's Response does not seek Denney's immediate release. But it does say it's "appropriate" for both the complaint & the indictment to be dismissed.

It's not "appropriate," you tyrants, it's REQUIRED, unless the defendant waives the violation.

Their argument as to WHY is wrong because the Speedy Trial Act specifically says (in a section they didn't bother to read apparently) that when a charges are dismissed for this violation all the time is counted when they re-file it. But, under Covid rules that is suspended.

So, in normal times they would have about 26 or so days left on the 70 day deadline to bring his case to trial when they refile it. But all covid orders of the DC district court are suspending the deadlines for 70 days, so they will have the full 70 days when they refile.

The suspension of the deadlines applied to the 30 days to bring indictments also, but only at the very beginning of the pandemic. That stopped in mid-July 2020 when the grand juries started operating again.