It was last March 18 and Roger Queen, district attorney of the three-county Appalachian Judicial Circuit in northwest Georgia, was at the top of his form. At 45, he was relatively young, healthy and successful in his profession, married to his high school sweetheart, Debbie, and raising three children ranging in age from four months to 16. Dynamic, with a relentless work ethic and high ethical standards, he was regarded as one of the best prosecutors in the state. Life was good and prospects for the future were bright.
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| THE QUEEN FAMILY — From the left, rear: DA Roger Queen, his wife Debbie, and daughter Julie, 16. Front: Sons Tyler, 4 months, and Chase, 13. Photo courtesy of the Queen family and The Georgia Prosecutor magazine. |
Queen had been on a case all day in the Gilmer County Courthouse and was scheduled to speak to a group of Boy Scouts that evening. As he was leaving the courthouse at around 6 p.m. with several files, he somehow lost his footing and fell down the stairs, landing in a crumpled heap on the floor below. He was airlifted to the nearest large hospital where doctors found that Queen had suffered a fractured neck and was now a quadriplegic.
With Queen’s chief deputy on army reserves duty in Iraq, Assistant DA Darrell Wilson, a former chief prosecutor in two other jurisdictions, was named DA pro tem. DA Queen, unable to move, with damage to his vocal chords but gradually regaining his voice, and confined to a bed in his home under the care of a nurse, continues to keep in touch with his office, conferring with Wilson and staff members on cases and offering his advice.
“Roger indicated to us that he still wanted to be involved.” Wilson says. “He even has us bring indictments to him to draft. Of course he can’t physically draft them. But he still has his keen mind, and his ability to reason is as good as ever. I consult with him on major cases and he’s helping me in the decision-making.”
Two assistant DAs from neighboring judicial circuits reported in the magazine of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia: “As we continue to visit Roger and monitor his progress, we have asked what we can do for him and Debbie. Their request has been for prayer as they meet challenges they never expected to face.”
Claire McCaskill, Missouri state auditor and former prosecuting attorney of Jackson County (Kansas City), intends to become her state’s first woman governor. To achieve this, she will first have to defeat the incumbent governor and fellow Democrat, Robert Holden, in the Democratic primary in August. McCaskill, who was an active NDAA member during her prosecutorial career, opened her campaign for governor with the endorsement of one of the party’s heavy hitters, former Gov. Roger Wilson. Wilson said that McCaskill is a leader who would focus on solutions instead of fighting the Republican-controlled state legislature. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported that McCaskill, “a lawyer known for her candor, said…that a few party officials had tried to talk her out of running for governor, warning that the race was impossible to win. But she wasn’t discouraged. ‘I have heard that my entire career,’ she said, ‘and every single time I have proved them wrong. ’”
Cook County, IL (Chicago) State’s Attorney Richard Devine, a member of NDAA’s Board of Directors, and members of his staff were among those trapped briefly in smoky stairwells of a high-rise county building when a fire swept the lower floors of the building. Seven persons died and several, including a member of Devine’s staff, were injured. Devine’s offices are on the 32nd floor of the 35-story building. The fire, which started on the 12th floor on a Friday afternoon as many workers were preparing to leave for the weekend, spread thick smoke spiraling throughout the building. Apparently as a result of confusing and contradictory orders from fire officials, many workers found themselves trapped in smoke-filled stairwells. Devine was finishing work in his office when he heard the order to evacuate the building come over the public address system. He said he and about a dozen others who were still in the office started down a staircase, recalling, “The smoke was getting thicker as we were going down. People were saying, ‘You can’t get through.’” As Devine’s group headed down, according to The Chicago Tribune, other employees passed them in the opposite direction so Devine and others turned around at the 23rd or 24th floor. Devine said he and his companions tried to open doors on each floor as they walked back up the stairway but found the doors locked. “I kind of kicked myself for not leaving a wedge in the door at the 32rd floor,” he said. Finally, someone at the front of the group got in at the 27th floor, although Devine said he wasn’t certain whether the door had been left ajar or someone inside opened it. Among those trapped on another stairwell and briefly listed as missing was Randy Roberts, 47, a member of Devine’s staff. He was later rescued and hospitalized. Investigators began looking into the cause of the fire and the confusing safety procedures and rescue efforts.
“The Green River nightmare is over.” With these words, King County (Seattle) Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng, an NDAA board member and former vice president, announced the end of one of Washington state’s most puzzling serial murder mysteries, as well as one of the most intense investigations in recent history. Maleng made his announcement after Gary L. Ridgway, an unimpressive-looking 54-year-old truck painter, pleaded guilty in a county superior court to the murders of 42 women attributed to the so-called Green River killer. Ridgway also pleaded guilty to six additional murders that had not previously been attributed to him, making Ridgway the most prolific killer in American history. DNA evidence played the key role in connecting Ridgway to the serial murders. In return for Ridgway’s 48 guilty pleas and agreement to provide details of the crimes, Maleng agreed not to seek the death penalty for the murders Ridgway committed in King County, paving the way for Ridgway to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Maleng said his initial reluctance to plea bargain over the death penalty was outweighed by the need to finally obtain the truth. “If any case screams out for the death penalty,” Maleng said, “this is it,” but he also added, “These people (the victims) had moms and dads and sisters and brothers, and they all deserved to know the truth.”
Jim Hood, a county prosecutor’s son who hadn’t intended, when he was younger, to get into law or politics, is Mississippi’s new state attorney general. After five years as an assistant in the state AG’s office, Hood won an election to succeed his former boss, Mike Moore, who did not seek a fifth term. Prior to joining the state AG’s office, Hood served as DA for the state’s Third Circuit Court District, which encompasses seven counties in northern Mississippi.
The headline over the profile in The Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper was “Best in the Business” and the subject was veteran prosecutor Thomas Henderson, 56-year-old living legend in the offices of the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office. Henderson has earned a reputation as an aggressive, innovative prosecutor who doesn’t like to lose and rarely does. He has prosecuted murder cases without bodies, obtained a landmark Supreme Court decision on victims’ rights and more recently recommended felony murder charges against three daycare workers in connection with the death of a two-year-old child left in a hot parked van. Henderson has a photo of four-year-old Ashley Jones in his office and will keep it until her body is found. He has already successfully prosecuted the child’s aunt for murder. Referring to the photo, he said, “It also helps around eight o’clock at night when you’re working your next murder case and wondering why you’re here instead of back home.” Several years ago, when a jury announced guilty verdicts in a trial of a serial killer, Henderson looked back in the courtroom audience toward the father of one victim. “He was mouthing the words ‘Thank you,’” recalls Henderson, who was a special prosecutor in the case. “That’s why you do it.”
Drug trafficking is a major element of the economy of Camden, New Jersey, amounting to close to $100 million, according to Camden County Prosecutor Vincent R. Sarubbi, who revealed the estimate during a debate on the drug problem at the Rutgers University School of Law in Camden. The figure rivals the troubled city’s $118 million budget and is close to six times higher than the city’s total receipts in local taxes ($20 million). The rest of the budget is financed by state and federal subsidies.
NDAA board member Joshua K. (Josh) Marquis, DA of Clatsop County (Astoria) Oregon, and one of the association’s most prolific speakers and writers on such topics as the media and the death penalty, is the subject of a 2,600-word profile in his hometown newspaper, The Register-Guard of Eugene, Oregon. Stating that Marquis “plays the real-life role of crusading small-town prosecutor,” the newspaper said “increasingly, he’s playing to a national audience,” appearing on Court TV and National Public Radio. Marquis is also a regular contributor of op-ed pieces, and has commentaries or articles about him appearing in such media outlets as The New York Times and People magazine. Marquis readily admits, “I inject myself into the public eye a lot. Most people in public life do it because they love being in the public eye. And I do.”
James Comey, Jr. is the new deputy U.S. attorney general, succeeding Larry Thompson, who resigned to return to private practice. Comey, 42, is the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. His office indicted a number of high-profile corporate officials, including Martha Stewart, ImClone Systems founder Samuel Waksal and top executives of WorldCom and Adelphia. As DOJ’s number two official, Comey is, in effect, the chief operating officer of the department. His responsibilities include making sure the department runs smoothly, helping to shape policy and acting as liaison between Main Justice in Washington, DC, and the field. He also oversees the Criminal Division, the 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service. Christopher Wray, formerly Thompson’s deputy, is the new assistant AG in charge of the Criminal Division. He succeeds Michael Chertoff, who was appointed a judge on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.
Cameron County may not be one of the largest jurisdictions in Texas, but its county and district attorney, Yolanda DeLeon, indisputably runs one of the Lone Star State’s busiest and most challenging prosecutors’ offices. The reason: location. Situated 140 miles south of Corpus Christi in the Rio Grande Plains of South Texas, Cameron County borders Mexico, which means she deals with many state/federal/international issues. Many of her attorneys and staff members are bilingual. Because of the county’s location, many cases involve undocumented residents, consular notification situations and federal port of entry (POE) cases?all of which means virtual continuous interaction with federal law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. attorney’s office. DeLeon also keeps a sharp eye on local officials and proudly reports, “We took to task a constable, a county commissioner, a fire marshal and a city manager, all for taking advantage of the public trust for their own personal benefit.” All cases were successfully prosecute..
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