Vexed by the Justice Department’s chaotic oversight of federal prosecutions in New Jersey, a judge on Monday threw a government attorney out of a hearing and ordered the three officials in charge of the state’s U.S. Attorney’s office to answer his questions under oath.
U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi lit into prosecutors after another judge ruled last week that the Trump administration’s decision to replace interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba with a trio of officials was another violation of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, which requires Senate confirmation.
Holy shit. I’m reading the transcript and it’s far, far worse than either the above article or the NYT article, which the above article quotes, is making it appear.
When you read the articles, what the case is about, essentially, is the dysfunction of the NJ US Attorney’s office. Alina Habba got thrown out by a judge so the feds appointed a group of three – whom the judge refers to as the “triumvirate” – to run the office, and that is now also on the verge of being thrown out.
But that’s just the shit on top of the shit heap. What the case is really about is a guy who got busted for CSAM, and the US Attorney’s office offered him a plea deal BEFORE the FBI had finished searching the guy’s devices, which the defendant signed and the govt brought to the judge and had approved.
You should know that an approved plea deal is binding on both parties unless its own conditions or actual law is breached, so they’re usually written very carefully in that regard. Once a plea is approved by the judge, it’s pretty much a done deal. This particular plea was approved by this same judge last spring, apparently having been led to believe the investigation was finished.
Then AFTER the plea deal was done and dusted, the FBI found more CSAM on the guy’s devices. Lots of it. And it is clearly some vile, vile shit. Here’s the judge grilling the govt attorney:
Judge: How did you execute a plea agreement without knowing all the evidence on the device only later to find out, Oh my God. There’s babies and prepubescent children and bestiality." (pages 8 - 9)
So from the second these careless chucklefucks walk into this judge’s courtroom, all arrogant and cocky and full of lies, having sent the judge a letter regarding how they have to move forward with the plea deal because they’re bound to it and it’s “for the victims” (!!!) and even presuming to add an attorney to the hearing without notifying the court, he’s not having it.
Because it’s ALL a lie. Turns out that the judge went back and reread the plea deal he signed off on last year, and the plea deal is only binding in regard to Victim 1. It is NOT binding on Victims 2 - 17 (the other children appearing in the CSAM discovered on the defendant’s devices after the plea deal was approved).
What the judge is so red-hot about, and I DO NOT FUCKING BLAME HIM, is the fact that if this US Attorney’s office wasn’t such a complete clown show, they would have noticed their own plea deal was only binding on the first victim and charged the defendant again for all the later victims found.
And then they keep trying to lie their way out of it! After a long back and forth where the govt attorney actively misrepresents the plea agreement to the judge, the judge just ends it with this (page 10):
Judge: I’m asking you a question. Just answer it. All the victims that the FBI uncovered, because you guys failed to do so prior to executing the plea agreement, are they all related to Minor Victim 1; yes or no?
Govt Atty: The answer is no.
Judge: So it’s not a violation of the plea agreement, is it?
So the govt could charge the guy with further violations, they just don’t feel like it. So this defendant is going to serve less than a third of the time specified by recommended sentencing guidelines for the material found on his devices, and the govt is lying about the plea deal to cover it after the fact while mouthing words about being “victim-centric” and so forth at the judge.
I am not an attorney, but there are so many lies, misrepresentations of fact, and open breaches of court processes and protocol that I can’t even count them, and this judge is just fucking done. That’s why he threw the head government attorney out of court; that’s why he came into the hearing loaded for bear.
I think Judge Quraishi deserves a medal. And I’m not even done reading the transcript. It’s a wild ride.
So the Trump goons come, some uninvited, to put on a show during a hearing to try and distract. This judge will have none of it and is vocal about the nonsense, so the clowns accuse the judge of theatrics.
It’s MAGA 101 shit. I hope more judges follow this man’s example more often.
And did nothing, did not report them to the bar, did shit all nothing
I mean, he blocked their case and indicated that even the replacements aren’t legally allowed to sign off on any future prosecutions. This does slow things down
It does more than that, it puts a big ole asterisk next to everything they’ve had any association with and will make it much easier for people to avoid charges they helped bring.
go reread the case. the actual case, not the NYT reporting
Still not holding any officials in contempt. Theatrics indeed.
Of the many complaints this judge leveled, one of them was that the sloppy prosecution didn’t even wait for the FBI to finish it’s investigation before trying to rush a plea agreement.
In the midst of the plea agreement, the FBI found yet more CSAM, that they were unable to charge due to the DOJ’s actions.
I wonder if that was just the defendant’s dumb luck, or if there’s something else going on here.
I’d lean towards the former, but would not be shocked at the latter.
Judge said the plea agreement only covers victim #1, NOT victims #2-#12. The feds can charge for the others, however it doesn’t seem like they want to charge him.
If Habba was handling this, I automatically assume the defendant is connected to Trump somehow; sounds like maybe a coconspirator
It sounds like people with no real experience and who don’t understand how these things proceed tried to score a quick and easy win, but ruined it in the process.
