Some of the U.S. attorney firings appear to have come because Bush and his minions wanted more death

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703260776mar27,1,3227320.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Attorneys resisted death cases

By Richard A. Serrano, Tom Hamburger and Ralph Vartabedian, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published March 27, 2007


WASHINGTON -- Margaret Chiara, a former U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., appealed several times to the Justice Department against having to seek the federal death penalty. In hindsight, for her it was a risky business. snip

Chiara was not the only one to run afoul of the administration's stance on the death penalty.

In San Francisco, U.S. Atty. Kevin Ryan was ordered by Ashcroft to conduct a capital trial for a Californian charged with killing a man with a mailed, booby-trapped bomb. Ryan persuaded Ashcroft's successor, Gonzales, to drop the death charge; in February, the defendant, David Lin, was acquitted in federal court in San Jose.

In Phoenix, federal prosecutor Paul Charlton was told repeatedly, despite his resistance, to file capital murder in a case where the victim's body has never been recovered. The woman's remains are believed buried in an Arizona landfill, but the Justice Department refused Charlton's request to shoulder the cost -- up to $1 million -- to retrieve the corpse.

The three prosecutors are among eight U.S. attorneys terminated in 2006 in a housecleaning by the Justice Department. And while their hesitation over the death penalty was not cited as a reason for their dismissals, Washington officials have made it clear they have little patience for prosecutors who are not with the program.

[MADem]

1. It is a badge of honor to be "not with the program" when it comes to BushCo. NT

[Ninja Jordan]

2. This cuts in favor of Bush (that they were fired for policy reasons).