Is he trying to botch the prosecution?

[Ocelot II]

4. There is no reason to bring political motivation into this prosecution,

since the all that is needed to prove the case against the defendant is proof that he killed Kirk with intent. The prosecution does not have to present any motive at all. Motive is often important when investigating a murder where the perp is unknown - why would any particular person have wanted to kill the victim - but once it's clear who killed the victim, knowing why becomes unimportant when prosecuting the case. All they need to prove is that the defendant intentionally killed the victim. Patel, whose Keystone Kop FBI had very little to do with identifying or locating Robinson, is trying to make himself look important, or at least useful, after his initial fuckup of detaining someone and announcing to the world that they had caught the suspect, then having to release him when it was clear he wasn't involved, and then doing it again. And he wants an excuse to make the case a political cudgel against liberals and trans people. But Patel can just fuck all the way off, because this is a state case, not a federal one, and so far they haven't established any basis for federal jurisdiction.