Delaware Judge Shields Attorney General from Testifying in Former Auditor McGuiness's Lawsuit
WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware, has ruled that Attorney General Kathy Jennings does not have to testify in the civil lawsuit brought by former state auditor Kathy McGuiness. Judge Maryellen Noreika granted a protective order, finding that McGuiness's lawyers had not shown extraordinary circumstances requiring the attorney general's testimony, had not shown the evidence was unavailable from other sources, and had offered no evidence that Jennings personally helped draft the false statement at the heart of the case.
McGuiness was elected state auditor in 2018 and resigned in 2022 after a misdemeanor conviction for hiring her daughter into the auditor's office, though a jury had acquitted her of felony theft and witness-intimidation charges. She then sued Jennings and others for malicious prosecution and defamation. The court has already dismissed the defamation claim and, on prosecutorial-immunity grounds, the malicious-prosecution claims against every defendant except Justice Department investigator Frank Robinson; the sole remaining claim concerns alleged false statements in Robinson's search-warrant affidavit.
The judge also denied Robinson's motion for summary judgment on procedural grounds, meaning the case may proceed to a jury trial.
Source: Delaware Online
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 威尔明顿公共大楼，特拉华州纽卡斯尔县（资料图）。（经 Wikimedia Commons）
