Jim Letten

James B. Letten
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana
Incumbent
Assumed office
2005
Appointed by George W. Bush
Preceded by Eddie J. Jordan, Jr.

Jim Letten is U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.[1]

Contents

U.S. Attorney in New Orleans

After finishing his law degree at the Tulane University School of Law, Letten worked for Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick, Sr. for four years and then began his career as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice. He was involved in the successful prosecution of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards[2] and former state representative David Duke.[3]

Bipartisan support for reappointment

Letten is a Republican, having been appointed to the U.S. Attorney's position by President George W. Bush. Nonetheless, when Republicans lost the Presidency to Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, many Democrats, including U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, took the unusual step of urging the new President to ignore partisan labels and reappoint Letten.[4]

Trials

Unquestionably part of the reason for Letten's bipartisan support was his prosecution of a number of ongoing indictments and trials, including two in which Mose Jefferson was defendant.[5] The instability in eastern Louisiana after a series of hurricanes, notably Hurricane Katrina, was an explicit factor in Landrieu's decision.[6]

On 2009 September 25 the Times-Picayune editorially praised Letten and the FBI for "bringing to justice" Bill Hubbard, who resigned as Saint John Parish president after receiving bribes of $20,000 from contractors.[7]

On February 1, 2010, Letten recused himself from the case of James O'Keefe and O'Keefe's three co-defendants.

Notes

  1. ^ Becky Borer, "Letten: New Orleans' Future Depends on Tackling Crime, Corruption" on the web site of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, posted 2006 November 08 from the Associated Press via the Times-Picayune (New Orleans).
  2. ^ U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's page on the Justice Department web site.
  3. ^ "New Orleans Black Leaders Accuse Letten of Racism in Indictments" on Bayoubuzz.com, 2009 May 28. See also Rick Jervis, "Feds take aim at corruption by officials in New Orleans" in USA Today, 2007 October 19.
  4. ^ "Landrieu Recommends Bagneris, Letten, May for Key Federal Appointments in Eastern District" on Senator Landrieu's web site, 2009 April 27 (retrieved 2009 June 06). Landrieu observed, in her recommendation, that Letten had retired as a Commander (O-5) from the U.S. Navy Reserve in naval intelligence, a job requiring a top-secret clearance.
  5. ^ See Betty Jefferson, Mose Jefferson, Angela Coleman, and Renée Gill Pratt. All the defendants faced indictments on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations, including alleged use of e-mail to commit fraud. Mose Jefferson faced a separate set of seven indictment counts for bribery, and on 2009 August 21 he was convicted on four of them.
  6. ^ Stephanie Grace, "Louisiana U.S. Attorney Jim Letten is Obama's kind of prosecutor" in Times-Picayune, 2008 December 11. The support of a state's two U.S. senators, especially of the President's party, historically has been critical to appointments of U.S. attorneys in the state.
  7. ^ "Another crook bites the dust" in Times Picayune, 2009 September 25, Saint Tammany Edition, p. B4.