I never said there was more than one case. I said he pleaded guilty twice. First in Contreras' court; then in Sullivan's court, Sullivan ordered the prosecution to provide any exculpatory evidence, opening the door to Flynn motioning to withdraw his guilty plea. Instead, Flynn committed to his guilty plea to Sullivan.
Did Robert Mueller’s office withhold other evidence in Michael Flynn’s prosecution, either from the FISA court or from Flynn’s attorneys?
thefederalist.com
Well now you are just making shit up as you go. First you said it was in 2 separate courts.
faun said:
He pleaded guilty in two separate courts when his case was handed to a second judge and that second judge offered him the opportunity to submit a plea to his court.
There was only ever one court- the US Federal District Court for D.C. Now you are claiming he entered more than one plea. If you think he did that, then post the second one.
He pled guilty in his first appearance, he doesn't have to do it again just because the judge changes- it's still the same case, with the same court record.
Sullivan's discovery order was appropriate because he was holding the case open. Judges don't formally accept the plea agreement until they sentence the defendant. That's when the defendant finds out if the court will go along with the deal.
A defendant can withdraw a guilty plea right up to the point where the sentence is passed. The judge will ask them one final time if they want to change their mind, he will caution the defendant that he is not bound by the agreement, the case cannot be appealed, and violation of the terms of the plea deal are grounds for an administrative conviction on the original charge.
Almost always, the court will go along with the plea agreement. But they are not required to.
What NEVER happened was Flynn pleading guilty more than once, or to more than one count of the 1001 violation. The only way that would happen is if additional charges were added later, or if the case was dropped and a new indictment was brought with different charges.
There is also the
very questionable legal principle of charging perjury in an investigation where there was no underlying crime. Perjury has elements like every other crime, and one of the elements is that the false statement is intended to affect the outcome of a case. When there is no crime, there is no outcome to manipulate with a false statement. They were questioning Flynn about a phone call that was not improper in any way, and then charged him with lying about it.
The FBI's own documents show that it was a pretextual investigation, intentionally disguised as a defensive briefing. They admit that. They knew exactly what was said on the call, they were listening in. They had no cause to question Flynn about it. It was a setup, pure and simple. Charging someone for obstructing an investigation that shouldn't even be happening is not a legitimate application of the statute, which is why they DISMISSED the charges.
With prejudice, I might add...