Last week, Mr. Kuh, 82, speaking from his law office in Manhattan, agreed with the critics that Mr. Bruce's monologues would not be a target of prosecution these days.
Changing medical technology and options that allow women to bypass doctors in terminating unwanted pregnancies clearly mean that doctors cannot be the target of prosecution and women have to be.
Activists and dissidents may well anticipate persecution around the world, but today housewives, students and even tourists in Egypt and Thailand have become the target of prosecutions for as little as posting a video or responding to a private message on social media.
As if losing re-election is not punishment enough, politicians are becoming targets of criminal prosecution for their roles in the financial crisis.
The variety of fakes range from crude mixtures of glue, chalk and sugar to nearly exact chemical replicas of complex pharmaceuticals, like Lipitor by Pfizer or the anti-impotence pill Viagra, both of which have been the targets of anticounterfeiting prosecutions.
A list of nearly 170 potential targets for prosecution, published in 2007, has so far produced no convictions.
Mr. Silchenko has long been viewed as the most likely target of a prosecution.
The target of the prosecution is Dr. Thomas Butler, 61, who has conducted research in Tanzania aimed at finding better antibiotic treatments for plague.
The suit had been brought last year by a former executive at the insurance broker Marsh & McLennan, who was the target of a prosecution by Mr. Spitzer when he was the state attorney general.
Milton McGregor, a multimillionaire casino operator and prodigious political donor who was the chief target of the prosecution, was found not guilty on three counts and faced a hung jury on 14 others, including a conspiracy charge.
