Saying the government failed to meet the defendant’s right to a speedy trial, federal prosecutors filed a motion to have charges dropped against a January 6th attacker and have him released from jail, Reuters reports.
Prosecutors, however, want to preserve the ability to charge Texas resident Lucas Denney again in the future. Denny was arrested on December 13, 2021, and for a variety of reasons–some clear, some unclear–charges were not formally brought within the 30 day window required by the Speedy Trial Act and Denney never made an appearance before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as required, although hearings were scheduled multiple times.
“To be sure, the government failed to comply with the Speedy Trial Act in this case,” prosecutors wrote in their Monday filing. “But there is no evidence of bad faith, a pattern of neglect or something more than an isolated incident that resulted from a number of unfortunate factors.”