Michael Mukasey said he will look into the James Johnson case.
The U.S. attorney general said he would respond to U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield's letter that asked for a federal investigation of whether Johnson's constitutional rights have been violated, Titan Barksdale reports.
Mukasey made the comment Thursday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, a spokesman for Butterfield said.
In December, Butterfield sent the letter to Mukasey saying Johnson's right to a speedy trial has been denied, and he needs to intervene to "restore public confidence in the criminal justice system."
Johnson was jailed for three years for the murder of Brittany Willis. Johnson, 21, was freed in December pending a review of his case, and the murder, rape and kidnapping charges against him were dropped because of a lack of evidence. Johnson is now charged with accessory after the fact to murder.
The accessory charge against Johnson is based on his statement that he cleaned his own fingerprints from Willis' SUV. After killing Willis, his friend Kenneth Meeks drove her SUV to Johnson's house to pick him up.
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