Hello again blog readers. After a year hiatus, I’m rejoining the blogosphere. My thanks to my law partner, Anthony Lake, for keeping things running in my absence.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles announced Friday (no coincidence that the announcement came Friday in an effort by the government to avoid unfavorable press), that is was closing the investigation of Lance Armstrong, 7 time winner of the Tour de France. In the world of criminal defense practice, we often appeal to the “appropriate exercise of prosecutorial discretion” of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in asking that the government not prosecute our client. Thankfully, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles had the good sense to shut down the investigation of Armstrong and why they ginned up an investigation of him in the first place is beyond me and no doubt represents an astonishing waste of government resources in an investigation that had absolutely no federal interest.
Armstong’s attorney, John Keker, of San Francisco, filed a contempt motion under seal last year asking that the judge determine who was leaking information to the press regarding the investigation and hold the responsible party in contempt. I’ve not been able to find that motion online, although several media outlets quote from the motion itself. If you have a copy, send it to me and I will post it.
At any rate, after a 2 year investigation, it is good to see that the feds got this one right.
