That's the CNN headline.
A disrict judge in New Orleans today ordered a new trial of police officers convicted of using illegal deadly force in the post-Katrina Danziger bridge incident. The opinion is astonishing and has echoes of the Ted Stevens prosecution (although different allleged misconduct). What's gone wrong at Justice?
The judge used the phrase "carnival atmosphere" and cited the 1966 Supreme Court opinion in Sheppard v. Maxwell. The conduct is characterized as the equivalent for new media of Sheppard, where the Supreme Court reversed a conviction because of extensive electronic media in the courtroom.
Remarkably, one of the three DOJ lawyers cited in the court's opinion was the head of the "taint team." The court cited other qualms it had about the trial but alone they did not warrant relief. This tipped the balance, it wrote.
The judge wrote that the relief was justified even if there was no prejudice from the government's conduct, but he also finds prejudice.
The opinion is worth reading. I don't know if the government can take an appeal or whether it has to retry the case. Its statement says it is "disappointed." You bet.
This opinion (at the URL below) is the new Exhibit A (and also Exhibits B-Q) for the dangers that social media present to the bar. It will be discussed at countless CLEs.
A few paragraphs from CNN's report, quoting the court, follow:
...In a 129-page ruling, District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt cited long list of "egregious and inflammatory" comments by at least three Justice Department officials using a variety of online identities. Those comments fueled a "21st century carnival atmosphere" that tainted the 2011 trial and will require a new one, Engelhardt wrote.
"This case started as one featuring allegations of brazen abuse of authority, violation of the law and corruption of the criminal justice system; unfortunately, though the focus has switched from the accused to the accusers, it has continued to be about those very issues," the order states. "After much reflection, the court cannot journey as far as it has in this case only to ironically accept grotesque prosecutorial misconduct in the end."
The opinion is at: http://media.nola.com/crime_impact/other/judge%20filing%20re%20bowen%20et%20al.pdf