Tim Heaphy

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Timothy J. Heaphy
United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 2009
Appointed by Barack Obama
Preceded by John L. Brownlee
Personal details
Born 1964
New Haven, Connecticut
Alma mater University of Virginia (B.A.)
University of Virginia School of Law (J.D.)

Tim Heaphy (born 1964) is a white-collar criminal defense attorney, law professor and current United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.

Education and Early Career

Heaphy was raised in a Maryland suburb of Washington D.C. He attended college at The University of Virginia where he played football. He is married to Lori Shinseki, daughter of General Eric Shinseki.

Graduating from UVA in 1986, Heaphy taught at a private school for a year and then joined the staff of Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) He returned to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1988 to attend law school, graduating in 1991.

After a judicial clerkship with District of Columbia Court of Appeals Judge John A. Terry, Heaphy joined the law firm of Morrison Foerster in San Francisco.

Federal Prosecutor

Following a two-year stint at Morrison & Foerster, Heaphy joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. He was hired by then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder.

As an Assistant United States Attorney in the Organized Crime and Narcotics Section, Heaphy supervised an investigation conducted by an FBI "Safe Streets" task force that resulted in a 158-count indictment charging 17 defendants with multiple murders and drug-trafficking violations.[citation needed] He also convicted the Capitol Hill Slasher. As of late 2002, he had prosecuted 55 cases and lost only 3. In 2003, The National Law Journal named Heaphy a Top 40 Lawyers Under 40.[1]

In 2003, Heaphy joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in The Western District of Virginia based in Charlottesville, Virginia. He successfully prosecuted Brent Simmons, who had been serving 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to second degree murder in the grisly deaths of two James Madison University students in Harrisonburg, Virginia on October 12, 1996. After public outcry over the leniency of Simmons’s sentence and the discovery of new evidence clearly implicating Simmons in the murders, prosecutors indicted Simmons for federal weapons and stalking charges. Simmons was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

Present day

Heaphy joined McGuireWoods, LLP, a prominent Richmond-based law firm in 2006, as a partner in the firm's commercial litigation department. He focused on white collar defense and government investigations, counting former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) among of his clients. During this time, Heaphy also taught course in trial advocacy and a federal criminal practice seminar at the University of Virginia School of Law.

On July 31, 2009 Heaphy was nominated by President Barack Obama to become U.S. attorney for Virginia's western district.[2] Heaphy was sworn in as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia on December 11, 2009.[3]

Personal accolades

In 2003, The National Law Journal named Heaphy one of its 40 Important Lawyers Under 40.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 40 Under 40: A Look at Some of the Most Important Young Litigators in America. The National Law Journal July 29, 2002.
  2. ↑ Lawyer nominated for western district U.S. Attorney
  3. ↑ http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/223122

References

  • Movers. The National Law Journal February 6, 2006
  • Jen McCaffrey, Federal Jury Spares Convicted Killer’s Life in Double-Murder Case, The Roanoke Times, February 18, 2005.
  • Jim Keary. "'Slasher' is sentenced; Robber terrorized residents on Hill", The Washington Times, December 17, 1997.

External links

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