Is The Comey Case Barred By The Statute Of Limitations? It's Complicated! (But Also Yes.) - Above the Law

"Yesterday, Judge Cameron McGowan Currie tossed the Trump administration's slapdash effort to criminally prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, noting that the purported U.S. Attorney behind the prosecution had all the legal authority of three raccoons in a trench coat. Alas, the role of "Kinda Sorta Interim-ish U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia," is not so much "real," with the statutory authority provided to the actual interim U.S. Attorney having expired months ago."

"While the dismissals were without prejudice, it likely closes the door on Comey's case, since the whole reason Halligan scrambled to cobble together an indictment that the grand jury never voted upon was the ticking clock of the statute of limitations that would turn the allegations against Comey into pumpkins that week. And now that indictment - which was already doomed because of the grand jury screwup - is void from jump."

Judge Currie dismissed prosecutions tied to a poorly authorized acting U.S. Attorney after the statutory authority for the interim appointment had expired. The court found that swapping placeholders cannot evade the 120-day statutory cap or the Senate confirmation requirement. Halligan hurried to assemble an indictment before the statute of limitations expired, but the grand jury never voted and the filing was invalid because the prosecutor lacked authority. The dismissals were entered without prejudice, but the statute of limitations has likely closed the window for reprosecution, effectively ending the Comey case.

Read at Above the Law