{"id":4632,"date":"2026-07-14T20:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4632"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:36:07","slug":"james-comey-signals-vindictive-prosecution-challenge-in-nc-seashells-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4632","title":{"rendered":"James Comey signals vindictive-prosecution challenge in NC seashells case"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Former FBI Director James Comey Jr.\u2019s attorneys asked a federal judge Monday for permission to file an expanded brief in support of motions to dismiss the charges, arguing he was selectively and vindictively prosecuted.<\/p>\n

Read more Wake Co. reports 150+ cases of cyclospora parasite causing intestinal distress<\/a><\/p>\n

Comey\u2019s defense team wants to combine the planned motions into a single memorandum of up to 40 pages rather than file two separate briefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would permit Mr. Comey to present all of the relevant arguments and law in one memorandum, and avoid potentially rehashing issues in two separate memoranda,\u201d states the filing signed by longtime Comey attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and his North Carolina counsel, Raleigh-based attorney Joseph Zeszotarski Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

The request comes ahead of the July 28 deadline for pretrial motions and signals that Comey intends to challenge the charges with this and other motions.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Constitution\u2019s Fifth Amendment guarantees rights of due process and equal protection, requiring federal prosecutors to apply the law fairly.<\/p>\n

Selective prosecution occurs when a prosecutor seeks a conviction based on \u201cunjustifiable standards or characteristics rather than the merits of an actual, alleged crime,\u201d according to Cornell Law School\u2019s Legal Information Institute.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Those characteristics could include race, religion or political opinion.<\/p>\n

To prove selective prosecution, Comey would have to show \u201cthat prosecutorial policy had both a discriminatory purpose and effect, generally including a showing that similarly situated<\/a> individuals were not prosecuted,\u201d states a brief on federal prosecutorial discretion<\/u><\/a> by Cassandra Barnum, a legislative attorney with the Congressional Research Service, nonpartisan staff that provide legal and policy analysis to Congress.<\/p>\n

Vindictive prosecution is when a prosecutor seeks a conviction of a crime in retaliation or to punish someone for exercising a legal right, such as free speech<\/u><\/a>, according to Cornell\u2019s legal institute.<\/p>\n

Defendants alleging vindictive prosecution \u201cmust show that the charges were brought solely to penalize the exercise of such rights\u201d and prove an improper prosecutorial motive,\u201d Barnum wrote.<\/p>\n

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Comey\u2019s team filed a motion alleging selective and vindictive prosecution to challenge a September 2025 indictment in Virginia that accused Comey of lying to Congress about leaks to the press. That case was dismissed after two months. A federal judge ruled that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney who had sought that indictment, was unlawfully appointed.<\/p>\n

Comey was charged with two federal crimes in the federal Eastern District of North Carolina this year after posting on Instagram in May 2025 a photo of seashells arranged to read \u201c86 47\u201d on a North Carolina beach.<\/p>\n

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines 86 as ejecting, dismissing, or removing a person from a place, or an item from a menu.<\/p>\n

But Trump and his supporters alleged the numbers were a threat to kill the 47th president. Comey took the post down the same day he shared it, saying he wasn\u2019t aware of the violent connotation.<\/p>\n

Federal officials immediately began investigating the alleged threat, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

On April 28, a federal North Carolina grand jury indicted Comey on two felony charges, accusing him of threatening the president with the post.<\/p>\n

Comey\u2019s arraignment, a hearing in which he would plead guilty or not guilty, is set for 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at the federal courthouse in New Bern. If the case proceeds to a jury trial, it is now scheduled to begin Oct. 21.<\/p>\n

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