There are some rumors that they hit a legal snafu with their use of Bruce Maddox, and that Chabon had to completely rewrite the story arc after the first couple episodes were produced which resulted in Maddox's quick death and the eventual introduction of Alton Soong. Chabon, a first-time showrunner, may have been frustrated by the studio system and that may have contributed to hasty story edits in the back half and his eventual decision to leave Picard (as showrunner) after Season 1./spoiler]
That would make a lot of sense. The series felt of from the moment they killed Maddox, that'd also explain why Jurati just manages to walk free