The Motion to Dismiss the Charges Against Mayor Adams Is Easily Supportable

I’ve been following the debate between my co-bloggers David Post and Josh Blackman (and other commentators elsewhere) on the Mayor Eric Adams criminal case. Dedicated VC readers will have seen that David calls the Justice Department’s decision to move to dismiss the charges an “outrageous” deal and in an earlier post, he called it an “odious and reprehensible” deal. Josh calmly responds that this “is the sort of thing DOJ does all the time.” Who’s right?

As a professor who teaches criminal law (and as former federal prosecutor who cut plea deals), I will weigh in on Josh’s side as a descriptive matter, without taking a position on the ultimate merits of whether the Justice Department should have moved to dismiss the charges. This motion to dismiss does not seem “outrageous” to me, particularly since the matter now goes for review by a federal judge.

via reason.com

Paul Cassell.