After carefully considering the Supreme Court’s recent decision and the principles of federal prosecution, the U.S. Department of Justice made the decision not to pursue the case further. The Justice Department contended that in exchange, McDonnell agreed to have his office help businessman Jonnie Williams seek favorable actions from the Virginia state government for a dietary supplement business.
Advertisement
The Justice Department said the Supreme Court has made it too hard to retry McDonnell.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday moved to drop their corruption case against former Gov.
When the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced it planned to retry McDonnell, collective groans could be figuratively heard throughout the Commonwealth. Supreme Court unanimously chose to overturn the governor’s conviction for corruption, which left prosecutors with the decision on whether or not to try him again.
The Supreme Court said as much in its ruling, but insisted that as off-putting as Mr. McDonnell’s behaviour may have been, it didn’t necessarily rise to the level of corruption. I would never do, nor consider doing, anything that would violate the trust of the citizens of Virginia I served during 22 years in state elected office.
“I think for our family this is probably the first time again in all these months that we can finally exhale and not worry- not worry about what’s to come next and when the next shoe may drop, because it’s actually finally all over”, she said. He remained free pending appeal, and this spring, the Supreme Court unanimously threw out his conviction, although the justices left open the possibility of a retrial.
“We thank the Department of Justice for the care with which they reviewed the case”, William A. Burck, Maureen McDonnell’s attorney, said to the Post. And it said to the government that if it meant to again prosecute the McDonnells, it could only do so under a narrower definition of an “official act”.
“It is my hope, and I firmly believe the hope of the overwhelming majority of Virginians, that the McDonnell family will rebuild their lives after this ordeal”, he said.
What’s the guy or gal sitting in jail who had little or no access to a high-powered, high-dollar defense team thinking?
“The basic compact underlying representative government assumes that public officials will hear from their constituents and act appropriately on their concerns-whether it is the union official anxious about a plant closing or the homeowners who wonder why it took five days to restore power to their neighborhood after a storm”, Roberts wrote, citing the possible damage to democratic participation.
Geoff Skelley at the University of Virginia Center for Politics says it’s good news for McDonnell but not great news.
“No, not after the unanimous Supreme Court verdict, it was not surprising at all”, Duffan responded.
Advertisement
Maureen McDonnell’s attorney praised the decision.
