His conviction occurred in 2014, during the height of the Obama Administration's drive to get sexual misconduct convictions against military men. Two other military sexual assault and rape convictions from that year have been overturned since Trump took office.
Judge Curiel ruled that new evidence had come to light that Petty Officer Rich's Constitutional Rights were violated. He also called into question whether testimony in the case was tainted. Rich was convicted, incidentally, on the testimony of the 3 year-old alleged victim---who may well have been coached by prosecutors. Also, character references from Rich's superiors were illegally excluded from the trial.
The Justice Department may well have intervened in this case because the last overturned Naval conviction implicated the current Navy Judge Advocate General with malfeasance. A signed Affidavit by a retired Admiral and other ex-Navy officers accused JAG Admiral James Crawford of intimidating Courts-Martial members to secure convictions for political purposes. In spite of these allegations, RINO Defense Secretary James Mattis hasn't removed or even punished Admiral Crawford in any way.
Justice was done in this case, however. Judge Curiel's decision to order a new investigation minus the quashed evidence is putting Pentagon Swamp on notice that they had better start cleaning up their act or civilian courts may be forced to intervene. That's clearly something that the Pentagon doesn't want.
As an interesting side note, Judge Curiel was also the 'Mexican Judge' in the Trump University Case referenced by then-candidate Trump in 2016.
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