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February 02, 2010

O'Keefe prosecutor recused himself/Lindsay on GRITtv today

Interesting news from the WSJ's law blog:

The plot thickens a bit down in the Big Easy over the arrest of James O’Keefe and three other activist arrested last week while trying to capture secret footage in the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D. La.). On Monday, the U.S. attorney in New Orleans recused himself from O’Keefe’s case, citing, well, not very much.

A DOJ news release said simply that Jim Letten, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, recused himself from the case a day after the Jan. 25 arrests. Letten’s top lieutenant, assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann, has taken over.

No official reason has been offered for the recusal, but WSJ blogger Ashby Jones speculates that it might have to do with the fact that one of James O'Keefe's co-accuseds is Robert Flanagan, the son of an acting U.S. Attorney in Louisiana. 

By the way, I'm going to be on GRITtv this afternoon to talk about the phone tampering scandal, probably shortly after 1:30 EST. I'll post the video as soon as I can.

Comments

Does one not have to provide a reason to recuse one's self?

Lacking a reason, isn't that just quitting?

A reason for recusal doesn't need to be a public reason. Hypothetically, a prosecutor who is having an affair with a defendant's wife should certainly recuse himself, but you can imagine that he wouldn't want to announce the reason to the local paper. You certainly wouldn't want a prosecutor in such a situation to not recuse himself because he was embarrassed to admit why.

Does that happen a lot Dave? :)

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