"...Despite his public profession of innocence, though, Harrell in recent days reportedly has been working behind the scenes to make his ethics case go away through a legal tactic that, a review by The Nerve found, hasn’t been tried in recent memory by a target of a state grand jury investigation, and doesn’t appear to be authorized under state law or by court order to be done in secret.
The State newspaper revealed last week, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, that Harrell’s lawyers want a closed hearing before Circuit Judge Robert Hood – a relatively new judge assigned to the state grand jury – to argue that Wilson should be removed from their client’s case because of an unspecified conflict of interest.
It’s not the first apparent move by Harrell to use his authority as House speaker to better position himself in his ethics case. The Nerve reported last month that if Harrell is indicted by the state grand jury, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal would select the judge to oversee his trial. Harrell actively campaigned for Toal, who beat Justice Costa Pleicones last month for another term as chief justice in a rare judicial race in the General Assembly.
Toal, through her court clerk, declined to say when questioned by The Nerve whether she would remove herself from Harrell’s case if he is indicted..."
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