Veteran Prosecutor Richard G. Convertino Voluntarily Resigns as an Assistant U.S. Attorney

Washington, D.C., May 16, 2005. Richard G. Convertino, a 15--- year veteran prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, resigned today from his government job and will immediately take on the defense of a Michigan State Trooper who has been charged with 2nd Degree murder in the April 14th fatal shooting of an assailant. . Mr. Convertino’s voluntary resignation was in protest to the government misconduct he reported in a major terrorism prosecution and the failure of the Department of Justice to enforce his rights under the Privacy Act.

Mr. Convertino, who has been battling with the Justice Department for almost 2 years, says he has been waiting for the right time to leave the Department. “I know what it is like to be falsely accused of having motives I do not possess. The injustice of charging this Trooper for murder, in what is clearly a self-defense shooting, has given me the right reason to leave." The DOJ had not requested the resignation and his decision to leave the agency was not part of any settlement or negotiated deal. Instead, by resigning from the DOJ, Mr. Convertino will immediately open a private law practice in order to aggressively defend other victims of government abuse.

Mr. Convertino is the former lead prosecutor of the Detroit Terrorism case in which 3 of 4 defendants were convicted. Mr. Convertino has a whistleblower law suit pending against former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, and along with others in the Department of Justice, for “mismanaging the war on terror” and for Privacy Act violations. The terrorism convictions were set aside at the request of the Justice Department.

Convertino has prosecuted many complex and high profile cases during his tenure at the DOJ. He is also nationally known for being the lead prosecutor in the criminal prosecution of perjury case against NBA player, Chris Webber, in 2003.

The DOJ has not requested Convertino’s resignation and his decision to leave the agency is his own and not part of any settlement or negotiated deal. “This will not affect his law suit, but by resigning from the DOJ, Mr. Convertino will be able to open a private law practice in order to aggressively defend clients, including other victims of government abuse,” said Stephen M. Kohn, an attorney for Mr. Convertino and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Whistleblowers Center.