The shakeup locally and nationally will hopefully change the extreme position that the government frequently takes on bond. For example, yesterday DOJ asked for the VW executive (who was arrested in Miami while on vacation with his family) to be held on pretrial detention. From the DBR:
The defense team said they would like Schmidt to be held in a marshal-supervised hotel until a full bond hearing could be held in Michigan. They argued Schmidt had cooperated with the U.S. government by meeting with FBI agents of his own volition in London early in the investigation.
"He showed that he has absolutely nothing to hide from the government," Massey told the judge.
Massey also said Schmidt's arrest came as something of a surprise, because the government told Schmidt's attorneys as recently as Dec. 16 that he was only a "subject" and not a "target" of the investigation.
Singer insisted that Schmidt's meetings with U.S. officials were rife with deception. Schmidt traveled to the U.S. to meet with regulators in 2015 and deliberately hid the emissions test cheating from them, Singer said.
"It's actually, I think, a fact that weighs against him," he said.
Schmidt's local lawyer is one of the candidates for U.S. Attorney, John Couriel. If John gets the gig, there may be some hope that he softens the office's very harsh position on bail.