Epic criminal case lives up to its moniker year after year

Sunday, September 1, 2024

COMMENTARY

Epic criminal case delays — (Mike Allen)

Say a prayer for NonDoc education reporter Bennett Brinkman, who keeps heading to hearings in the criminal embezzlement case against Epic Charter Schools founders Ben Harris and David Chaney.

Remember Epic Youth Services? That’s the private management company Harris and Chaney founded and paid millions to operate the public charter schools they launched. During a March preliminary hearing, one big question in the embezzlement and racketeering case facing the two business partners involved identifying when and how public money can become private dollars.

Or it was something like that. Who can remember? Despite carrying on for five days, that March preliminary hearing has yet to conclude. Why? You’ll have to read Bennett’s reporting and Twitter threads for the full details, but basically one attorney asked another attorney to recuse, and then another attorney asked the judge to recuse. When she declined, that attorney — the always stylish Joe White (seen above, circa 2054) — asked the presiding judge to make the first judge recuse, and now it’s possible some appellate judges will be asked to intervene.

When I heard about all of these motions and hearings, I imagined how much a two-year legal process could age the parties, especially when the criminal investigation itself took so nearly a decade.

Of course, this is not the first time I’ve drawn Harris and Chaney. That was back in June 2022 when they were charged and everyone already had BBQ on the brain.

Here’s hoping smoked meats are still around in 30 years.