Gage Charges Dismissed--additional Plaintiffs not injured [yet]

You may have heard yesterday that Judge Quackenbush dropped all charges against Plaintiff superhero and [alleged] cheater of Plaintiffs Noel Gage. Judge Quackenbush followed through on his threat to dismiss charges if U.S. Attorneys did not grant immunity to Dr. Mark Kabins, a doctor who [allegedly] waited 11 hours to perform emergency surgery, but wasn't sued by Gage because of what Gage calls "trial strategy" and others allege was a conspiracy to protect doctors such as Kabins that work with Gage's office.

The Review-Journal reports:

In his order Tuesday, Senior U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush wrote
that it was unfair for the government to offer immunity to two doctors accused
of being involved in the conspiracy, but not to Dr. Mark Kabins, whose testimony
was expected to contradict government witnesses . . .

"The integrity of our justice system would be totally compromised if the
prosecutor could grant immunity to witnesses whose testimony supports the
Government's charges, but reject the same 'use' immunity to other witnesses
whose testimony would contradict the Government's position or witnesses,"
Quackenbush wrote.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Myhre told Quackenbush the government
could not offer immunity to Kabins, because he is a target of its investigation
and could be indicted.

Quackenbush noted it is unusual for a judge to force the government to
offer a witness protection. "While the decision to grant the limited 'use'
immunity is ordinarily left to the discretion of the prosecutor, a basic and
constitutional exception is recognized when the potential witness has relevant
testimony favorable to the Defendant," he wrote.

However, Gage may not be able to breathe easy yet. A Review-Journal column suggests the U.S. Attorneys will be appealing Judge Quackenbush's ruling. (Review-Journal)