Tough times for US Atty

The wrist slap for supermarket mogul George Torres (he went free yesterday with credit for time served) is just the latest setback for federal prosecutors in the Central District of California. Daily Journal reporter Ciaran McEvoy summarizes the not-so-terrific scorecard:

The MySpace cyber-bullying case, in which a Missouri teen hanged herself after receiving hateful online messages from a neighbor's computer, ended with a judge acquitting the defendant of computer fraud charges;

The corruption prosecution of ex-Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, who was acquitted of five out of six felonies counts. Carona was sentenced to 66 months in prison for witness tampering, but remains free on bail pending appeal;

Three former executives at Ralphs supermarkets were acquitted on all counts stemming from the company's illegal rehiring of locked-out workers during the 2003-04 Southern California grocery work stoppage; and

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney threw out the entire prosecution of former Broadcom Corp. executives on stock option fraud charges last week, accusing prosecutors of misconduct in the case, including leaking grand jury information to the media.

George Newhouse Jr., a former federal prosecutor now with Brown, White & Newhouse, cites the loss of top-flight attorneys like Robert Brosio, Lourdes Baird, Terree Bowers, and Gary Allen Feess. "There has been a lack of appropriate leadership and oversight in that office for a number of years," Newhouse told the paper. One possible explanation: A replacement has yet to be named for Thomas O'Brien, the U.S. attorney who led the office for the last two years. LAPD Inspector General Andre Birotte Jr. is considered a strong candidate for the job, according to the DJ.