Is DOJ's Fieger case about to collapse? -- Brian Dickerson, DFP columnist

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2008013...

BRIAN DICKERSON
Is Fieger case about to collapse?
January 30, 2008

By BRIAN DICKERSON
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST


Poor Geoff Fieger!

Federal prosecutors who want to put him in prison are reeling from the latest blow to their case -- and U.S. District Judge Paul Borman could be days away from dismissing it outright.

It ought to be front-page news -- or at least the talk of the courthouse. But all anyone in Fieger's hometown wants to talk about is those text messages between the mayor and his soon-to-be-former chief of staff. Fieger has been screaming foul ever since November 2005, when 77 federal agents raided his Southfield law offices and ambushed 30 of his employees and associates at home in search of evidence that Fieger and his partner, Ven Johnson, illegally funneled $127,000 to John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign.

When the pair was formally charged last November, their lawyers countered with a motion asserting that vindictive Bush administration officials had singled them out for selective prosecution, a constitutional no-no.

Fieger's lawyer, Gerry Spence, said Justice Department records would prove his client was the target of a government vendetta, and asked Borman to order prosecutors to produce them.

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