Top U.S. Department of Justice lawyers violated agency policy in disciplining two prosecutors for ethics breaches in the botched case against the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a federal board ruled this month. The panel invalidated the suspensions — adding another blemish to the department over a case that sharpened national focus on government misconduct.
Justice Department officials in 2012 concluded that assistant U.S. attorneys Joseph Bottini and James Goeke committed professional misconduct and ordered that they be suspended without pay — Bottini for 40 days and Goeke for 15. The prosecutors, accused of withholding information from Stevens’ defense lawyers, challenged the suspensions.
