I stand Corrected, making the news all the better!
Mike,
You are usually on point. However, you have made a few mistakes in your article “John Stagliano Has Charges Dismissed – What The Otherss Aren’t Telling You.”
1) Dismissals with/without prejudice are only made in civil cases – not criminal.
2) The charges were not dismissed. Stagliano was acquitted. Stagliano’s attorneys filed (and were granted) a “Rule 29. Motion for a Judgment of Acquittal” under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
3) Since the Judge acquitted Stagliano of all charges, he cannot be retried on those same counts (of course the Government can always indict him on various other trumped up charges if they so desire).
By now we all know that the charges against John were dismissed by the judge because the prosecution (the government) failed to provide ample proof.
This is good and it pleases me, but it may not be over yet.
The judge did not dismiss the charges “with prejudice” and what that means is that the prosecution COULD refile the case.
It doesn’t happen often and it may not happen here but it does remain a possibility as I have seen no quotes from the prosecution as to whether they intend to re-file or not.
Rumors are rampant that jury members spoke to the press and indicated that they wouldn’t have convicted anyway but that may just be BS because the jury cant start deliberation until sent to the jury room….which never happened.
Regardless, this is a good day for all of us, congrats to John and Evil Angel, fighting the government is brutally expensive and John never faltered, we all owe him a debt of gratitude for that.
6 Responses
[New Post] John Stagliano Has Charges Dismissed – What The Others Aren’t Telling You – via #twitoaster http://www.mikesouth.com/uncategorized/j…
John received quite a bit of support, not from the liberal media, but from principled conservatives (the Cato Institute, Andrew Sullivan’s blog, David Frum, Dave Weigel, Reason Magazine).
Since the legal opposition to the industry in the State Of California is coming from the political left (Michael Weinstein, et al), I think Mike is owed some credit for coming at this from a Libertarian perspective.
Terri
Indeed the ONLY party to come out in support of John was the Libertarian Party
Congratulations, John!!! 🙂
Thank you South. I respect and honor John Stagliano for fighting this, but it was not the same as being found not guilty, which would have been much better for the industry as a whole.
Michael Weinstein is not a part of the political left. In an interview for pjvoice.com, Weinstein said “I definitely consider myself a Republican, but in the Jacob Javits tradition, in the Barry Goldwater tradition.” Later on in the interview, he says “And like I said before, I was not just a lawyer for President Reagan. I was general counsel for two-time Presidential candidate and billionaire Ross Perot, who ran twice also.”