No charges against Madison County Attorney
Posted: Wednesday, April 23, 2008
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The U.S. Attorney's Office will not seek a criminal indictment against Madison County Attorney Joe Smith in an investigation of his relationship with a convicted drug dealer.
In a letter to Smith's attorney dated Thursday, U.S. Attorney Joe Stecher says there is not enough evidence to support criminal charges against Smith.
The letter also says that the decision is based on the availability of admissible evidence and is not an assessment of whether Smith may have acted improperly.
Stecher would not comment Tuesday on whether there was enough evidence to have Smith disbarred.
Smith's attorney, James Martin Davis, said the letter was an exoneration.
"It was a thorough investigation," he said. "They investigated his driving habits and his sex life and his relationship to law enforcement and all his informants. ... Those leads have developed nothing -- and that is an exoneration."
Smith said he anticipated the decision, but had expected it to come sooner.
The federal investigation and wiretaps of Smith's cell phone came to light in June 2005.
Stecher, whose office informed Smith of its investigation in early 2006, would not comment Tuesday on the scope of the investigation.
Davis has said the wiretaps were related to federal indictments in March 2005 of six people on charges of distributing methamphetamine.
Davis said Tuesday that Smith testified twice before a federal grand jury over the course of the investigation.
Smith has been Madison County Attorney since 1990. He gained statewide attention for his successful prosecution of four men involved in killing five people during a bank robbery in Norfolk in 2002.
After the federal scrutiny of Smith came to light, Jerry Soucie of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy called two of those convictions into question.
Soucie said Tuesday that his complaint was independent of the federal investigation. He would not comment further.
In a letter to Smith's attorney dated Thursday, U.S. Attorney Joe Stecher says there is not enough evidence to support criminal charges against Smith.
The letter also says that the decision is based on the availability of admissible evidence and is not an assessment of whether Smith may have acted improperly.
Stecher would not comment Tuesday on whether there was enough evidence to have Smith disbarred.
Smith's attorney, James Martin Davis, said the letter was an exoneration.
"It was a thorough investigation," he said. "They investigated his driving habits and his sex life and his relationship to law enforcement and all his informants. ... Those leads have developed nothing -- and that is an exoneration."
Smith said he anticipated the decision, but had expected it to come sooner.
The federal investigation and wiretaps of Smith's cell phone came to light in June 2005.
Stecher, whose office informed Smith of its investigation in early 2006, would not comment Tuesday on the scope of the investigation.
Davis has said the wiretaps were related to federal indictments in March 2005 of six people on charges of distributing methamphetamine.
Davis said Tuesday that Smith testified twice before a federal grand jury over the course of the investigation.
Smith has been Madison County Attorney since 1990. He gained statewide attention for his successful prosecution of four men involved in killing five people during a bank robbery in Norfolk in 2002.
After the federal scrutiny of Smith came to light, Jerry Soucie of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy called two of those convictions into question.
Soucie said Tuesday that his complaint was independent of the federal investigation. He would not comment further.
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