Broadside against US government as Lauren Stevens case is dismissed

In a stunning ruling this week, US District Court Judge Roger Titus ruled from the bench in Greenbelt, Maryland, granting a Motion for a Judgment of Acquittal filed by the defendant, Lauren Stevens, who was formerly an in-house lawyer for UK drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), writes John Fleder of Hyman, Phelps & McNamara on the law firm’s FDA aw Blog.

Earlier this year, federal US prosecutors in the criminal case against Ms Stevens received a double dose of bad news. First, the judge ruled against the government in saying that Ms Stevens can claim an advice-of-counsel defense to the charges against her. Then the judge dismissed the case without prejudice (The Pharma Letter March 28).

On May 10, Judge Titus stated that this was the first case in his seven and a half years as a jurist when he has granted such a motion. Because jeopardy had already attached, this ruling is not appealable by the government and ends this criminal case against her.