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Prosecutors dropped a case against two jail guards accused of sleeping on the job as Epstein died. They made the decision on December 13, in the middle of Ghislaine Maxwell's trial. The decision to drop the indictment against the guards wasn't made public until December 30. In the middle of Ghislaine Maxwell's child-sex-trafficking trial, federal prosecutors quietly dropped their case against two jail guards accused of sleeping on the job and falsifying jail records as Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in his cell. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan signed a nolle prosequi, a document announcing to the judge that they wished to...

(Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday appointed 17 current and former federal prosecutors as interim U.S. Attorneys in jurisdictions around the country, the Department of Justice said. The interim posts are for 120 days unless those holding them are re-appointed by a court or officially nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, a Justice Department official said. It is unclear if those named on Wednesday will also be nominated. Some may face political opposition, as U.S. senators traditionally have some say in the nominations of U.S. Attorneys who would serve within their states....

Using executive authority, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has tapped 17 current and former federal prosecutors to lead U.S. attorneys' offices across the country on an interim basis. Sessions had to make the move quickly to beat a deadline; after President Trump fired dozens of lead federal prosecutors last March, he had 300 days to fill the positions. With Sessions making the temporary appointments, Trump now has 120 days to submit to the Senate his nominations for permanent candidates. If he misses the deadline, a federal court in each district will make an interim appointment until the White House and lawmakers...

A group of Washington overlords — federal prosecutors — sometimes break rules and wreck people’s lives. President Obama may soon appoint one of them to be America’s next Attorney General. The prosecutorial bullying is detailed in a new book by Sidney Powell, “Licensed to Lie.” She reports that the Department of Justice’s narcissistic and dishonest prosecutors destroy people by doing things like deliberately withholding evidence. Remember the Arthur Andersen accounting firm? It was killed off by ambitious prosecutors who claimed the company helped Enron commit accounting fraud and then shredded the evidence. But instead of charging people who allegedly ordered...

Federal prosecutors have named CAIR and two other Islamic organizations, the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust, as "unindicted co-conspirators" in a criminal conspiracy to support Hamas, a designated terrorist group.In a filing last week, prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." They listed ISNA and NAIT as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood." Josh Gerstein of The New York Sun reports that spokesmen for CAIR did not respond to requests for comment.This development occurred in connection with...

April 2004 Washington’s Biggest Crime Problem The federal government’s ever-expanding criminal code is an affront to justice and the Constitution. William L. Anderson and Candice E. Jackson Michael Paul Mahoney was convicted of selling methamphetamine in 1980 and served 22 months in a Texas prison. Upon his release, he went straight, opening a pool hall in Jackson, Tennessee. After closing up each night, he would deposit the day’s receipts at the bank, carrying a small .22-caliber pistol for protection. In 1992, after the pistol was stolen, Mahoney bought a new one at a pawnshop, filling out the required paperwork....

Charged with possessing baggies of crack cocaine, Gerald Evans wrote long pleadings in his defense and had four lawyers representing him at different times, but he got perhaps the most help from the Sheriff's Department. Bexar County employees in the department's property room destroyed and auctioned items that authorities said linked Evans to the drugs, a goof that gave federal prosecutors last-minute cold feet. So, instead of going to trial this week, Evans and co-defendant David Lee went free after the case was dismissed on the eve of a final pretrial hearing — a decision that irked deputies who conducted...

<p>Attorney General John Ashcroft is directing federal prosecutors to seek maximum charges and penalties in more criminal cases and to limit use of plea bargains to get convictions.</p> <p>"Federal prosecutors must charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offenses that are supported by the facts," Ashcroft said in a memo to U.S. attorneys released Monday. "Charges should not be filed simply to exert leverage to get a plea."</p>