Another judge issued reprimand of DOJ for prosecutorial misconduct.

Two federal prosecutors reassigned for their roles in the secret tape recording of a defense lawyer and his investigator:

1. Karen Gilbert voluntarily stepped down as chief of the narcotics section of the Miami U.S. attorney's office.

2. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Cronin transferred out of the criminal division.


Another federal judge has issued a sharp reprimand of the Justice Department for prosecutorial misconduct.


In a withering 50-page opinion, Judge Alan Gold of Miami publicly reprimanded United States Attorney R. Alexander Acosta, his top aides, and three other prosecutors for withholding evidence and violating procedures in a criminal case brought against a doctor accused of issuing unwarranted prescriptions for painkillers, Ali Shaygan.


Gold also ordered the government to pay more than $600,000 in attorneys' fees and costs incurred by Shaygan. He was acquitted, but it emerged at the trial that two witnesses prosecutors presented as neutral patients were cooperating with the government and had been authorized to make recordings of the physician's defense attorney and an investigator.


Gold said two line prosecutors on the case, Sean Cronin and Andrea Hoffman, "exhibited a pattern of 'win-at-all-cost' behavior in the conduct of this investigation that was contrary to their ethical obligations as prosecutors and a breach of their 'heavy obligation to the accused.'"


"Various deficiencies in Cronin's conduct constitute unethical behavior not befitting the role of a prosecutor," Gold stated. He said he planned to refer both Cronin and Hoffman for possible bar discipline.


The judge also found that the prosecutor supervising the narcotics section, Karen Gilbert, was "grossly negligent" in her handling of the case. Gold said Acosta and other senior officials "failed to exercise proper supervision."
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