SAN DIEGO — Defense attorneys indicated Thursday they plan to request a mistrial in the “Fat Leonard” Navy bribery scandal, capping a highly unusual three-day special evidentiary hearing held to determine if prosecutors improperly failed to disclose exculpatory evidence or knowingly advanced a false narrative during the first several weeks of trial.
Lawyers for the five former naval officers on trial are expected to file briefings asking for a mistrial, dismissal and other lesser remedies in court over the next several days, with prosecutors given time to reply with their own briefings.
But U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino has refused to put the trial — closing out its ninth week with several more to go — on hold in the meantime and has ordered the jury to return to the courtroom Monday morning after being absent a week.
