7th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Kelly issued a protective order on November 19th barring the Michigan AG’s office from reviewing or producing any seized documents until a taint team is established to review the discovery in the case against former Gov. Rick Snyder.
This ruling follows a motion by the Snyder defense team on October 12th asking for the protective order due to continued malfeasance by the Attorney General’s office in regards to proper procedures of discovery.
“This is a massive breach of attorney-client privilege,” stated Brian Lennon, an attorney for Snyder. “The prosecution has our entire legal defense strategy in their hands.”
Prior to the ruling, email evidence surfaced showing two assistant attorney’s general attempted to raise a red flag that improper procedures of discovery were being used, but those warnings were ignored.
The ruling orders the AG’s office to create and use a taint team, a team of prosecutors and/or agents unconnected to the proceeding to review and evaluate whether materials seized include privileged documents.
“This entire ordeal could have been avoided had AG Nessel simply followed the rules from the beginning,” continued Lennon. “This is another example of what happens when state officials misuse the law to go after political opponents.”
Both sides will next be presenting arguments to 7th Judicial Circuit Court Judge F. Kay Behm on a motion to dismiss related to venue.