Will Federal Judges Continue to Review Prosecutors' Motions to Dismiss?

Tomorrow Judge O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas will consider an important issue about how Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a) operates. The Rule allows federal prosecutors to move to dismiss a previously filed criminal charge. But the motion must be approved by the district judge handling the case. In United States v. Boeing, the prosecutors handling that case have already signed a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with Boeing, refusing to further prosecute a criminal conspiracy charge against Boeing—even before Judge O'Connor has ruled on the pending motion to dismiss. On behalf of some of the victims' families harmed by Boeing's conspiracy, I have objected to this novel move. Tomorrow, I will argue that Judge O'Connor should reject the Government