It’s nearly impossible to have a spotless record when you have so many federal prosecutors around the country. Still, it’s no excuse and instances like this certainly don’t help promote public faith in the system.

By Mike Scarcella
The BLT: The Blog of LegalTimes

A former federal prosecutor in Washington was dishonest, interfered with the administration of justice and committed a crime when he doled out thousands of dollars in federal witness money to jailed informants and to individuals who were not in fact witnesses, according to a professional responsibility hearing committee in the District of Columbia.

The two-person Board of Professional Responsibility hearing committee, however, split on its recommended sanction against former assistant U.S. attorney G. Paul Howes, who now works in the San Diego offices of Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins.

Howes, who prosecuted complex drug gang cases in Washington during the city’s crack cocaine epidemic, was an assistant U.S. attorney between 1984 and 1995. Howes’ alleged misconduct has led to reduced prison sentences for at least nine defendants-several of whom were serving life sentences. The cases at issue were prosecuted while now Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. was U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

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