U.S. Magistrate Judge John Roberts left open the possibility that the Seattle attorney, Sheryl Gordon McCloud, an appeals specialist, could still be involved in pretrial motions if the public defender needed her help.
In documents filed this morning before she left the case, McCloud asked the trial judge, U.S. District Judge John Sedwick, to reconsider his decision to follow the U.S. Speedy Trial Act and hold the retrial Aug. 8. She said there are too many issues to resolve that quickly. Among them: an assertion that the lead FBI agent in the case failed to write down unfavorable information to her case when she heard it from a witness.
McCloud also said that at a telephone conference with prosecutors on June 9, none of the three Justice Department officials on the line had authority to negotiate a plea bargain. The conversation concluded with an agreement that "additional time would be required for the government to make a decision about who had authority to negotiate and then to explore whether negotiations would be worthwhile."
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