While Attorney General Alberto Gonzales labors to contain political fallout from the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys, legal fallout in the field for prosecutors in public corruption, voting fraud and other cases may soon be felt, according to defense attorneys and others.
Just the appearance of political influence in cases related to those firings, combined with the recent, unusual reversal of a federal public corruption conviction in Wisconsin, some say, will spur aggressive defense lawyers to question the political motivation of prosecutors in certain cases; make magistrates and judges more skeptical of the evidence before them; and perhaps even chill line prosecutors in their pursuit of some indictments.
