"We obviously felt that we had a viable case," said Robert J. Valli Jr. who represented Mr. Valle.
Still the St . Lukes strings made a viable case for the experiment.
"They did not have a viable case and they quit," he said.
Justice Elena Kagan countered, suggesting that the court should focus instead on the minimum amount required to mount a viable case.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai political analyst at Japan's University of Kyoto, said the charges were an "obvious ploy to get rid of the Shinawatras" rather than a viable case.
"I was frog-marched out of the prosecutor's office," Mr. Barlyn said, "because I objected to the dismissal of a viable case against an important local official".
Benjamin Brafman, a well-known criminal defense lawyer not involved in the case, said that given the Supreme Court decision, the government was overreaching to suggest that it still had a viable case.
Charlotte Moore's staging for the Irish Rep makes a viable case for Merrill's tuneful score, without ever fully convincing that the perky musical treatment has any connection to the roiling emotions of O'Neill's play.
One law enforcement official involved in the investigation said no single problematic detail about Ms. Diallo's background, or even all of them put together, had undermined the prosecution's faith in its ability to present a viable case.
