Of ten public corruption cases over the past two decades reviewed by Just the News, three resulted in reversed convictions.
"There is a great deal to be looked at involving public corruption cases at the DOJ," former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova told Just the News on Friday.
UCLA Law professor Stephen Bainbridge was quoted in a 2008 law review journal criticising this prosecutorial approach, referring to the similar convictions of Martha Stewart and businessman Frank Quattrone: "In neither case did the government indict the defendant with respect to the alleged underlying violations. Instead, both were indicted for subsequent acts that allegedly obstructed the investigation. Yet, if that investigation did not result in charges, it seems vindictive to charge obstruction."
An even earlier case bears a resemblance to the reversed conviction against McDonnell, except this time the DOJ was accused of withholding potentially exculpatory evidence from the defendant.
Of the ten public corruption cases over the last two decades reviewed by the Just the News, these three resulted in reversal by the courts.
Though in Rep. Fortenberry's case, the door is still open for new charges, the cases against both Gov. McDonnell and Sen. Stevens were dropped completely by the DOJ. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment on the Public Integrity Division by the time of publication.
After prosecutorial misconduct was proven in the Stevens' case, Jack Smith took over the Public Integrity Division at the DOJ and he dropped several ongoing corruption cases in the aftermath.
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