DoJ Report on U.S. Attorney Firings

"Mukasey Appoints Special Prosecutor to Investigate U.S. Attorney Firings," is the Legal Times article.  The DoJ report is here.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the firings of several U.S. Attorneys in 2006, as a report released Monday by Justice Department watchdogs found "significant evidence" that several of the attorneys fired in 2006 were let go for partisan or political reasons (pdf). The report recommended the appointment of a prosecutor with subpoena powers to continue the investigation.

Top department officials had said the firings were performance-related, but the report, by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine and Office of Professional Responsibility Director H. Marshall Jarrett, found otherwise. It also describes the department's top two officials at the time, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, as "remarkably unengaged" in the firing process and cites both for making "inconsistent, misleading and inaccurate" public statements about the firings.

In Chapter 8 of the report, dealing with fired U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton of Arizona, there is an extensive discussion of the case of Jose Rios Rico.  Charlton's office had recommended not seeking the death penalty in the case.  Then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales overruled Charlton and ordered that death be sought.  However, DoJ procedures had not been followed in reviewing the matter, and Charlton sought a reconsideration of the decision. 

Earlier this month, the Rios Rico case was settled with a plea agreement and no death penalty was sought.  An AP report, via Google News, "Former US attorney relieved with Ariz. murder case," is from Wednesday, September 24.

A former U.S. attorney fired in 2006 after clashing with his boss over a death penalty case says he's relieved the Justice Department is no longer seeking to execute the defendant.

Federal prosecutors made a plea deal with Jose Rios Rico that took the death penalty off the table. He was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison plus 55 years; he had earlier this month pleaded guilty to murder, drug and firearm charges in the case.

Former U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton told The Associated Press he didn't think prosecutors had enough evidence to get the death penalty. He said he was fired after arguing that point with then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who wanted him to pursue it anyway.

Charlton was one of nine U.S. attorneys who were ousted in 2006 in an unusual midterm purge that ignited charges of White House political meddling at the fiercely independent Justice Department.

The firings led to congressional investigations, an internal Justice Department inquiry and calls on Capitol Hill for the resignation of Gonzales, who left last year.

"A more seasoned group of individuals are reviewing these decisions now," Charlton said Monday of the Department of Justice.

"Attorney General Gonzales and his deputy attorney general were primarily concerned with the dogma and political concerns that surround the death penalty as opposed to what was right," Charlton said.

He said Gonzales and his deputies at the Justice Department ordered him to pursue the death penalty while he was managing the case. At the same time, they didn't want to spend the money to exhume the body of the victim, which Charlton believed would have given prosecutors key forensic evidence to prove their case.

Earlier coverage is here.