I don't know the law enough to say one way or the other, but assuming that you're right...
If I remember correctly, the defendants had run out of money, the private lawyer they hired was increasingly doing things pro-bono (and losing focus because of it), and they had already disrupted their lives for two years. Each court date required hours of travel for both of them and days off work. They'd get there, only to have the prosecution kick the can down the road and have the court date postponed for another few weeks, in which case they'd have to do it all over again.
That they lasted as long as they did is a testament to them, but the system wore even them down.
To add a whole new angle of going after the prosecutors for contempt would have increased the stress on their lives and resources by an order of magnitude.
If I remember correctly, the defendants had run out of money, the private lawyer they hired was increasingly doing things pro-bono (and losing focus because of it), and they had already disrupted their lives for two years. Each court date required hours of travel for both of them and days off work. They'd get there, only to have the prosecution kick the can down the road and have the court date postponed for another few weeks, in which case they'd have to do it all over again.
That they lasted as long as they did is a testament to them, but the system wore even them down.
To add a whole new angle of going after the prosecutors for contempt would have increased the stress on their lives and resources by an order of magnitude.