Hooray For The President: He Finally Got One Right.
President Obama selected Sally Q. Yates as the new United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. A 1986 Graduate of the University of Georgia Law School, Ms. Yates is an excellent choice for the office. She led the investigation/prosecution of the Atlanta Airport scandal in 1994-1995, unraveling far reaching corruption involving airport concessions. Ten defendants were convicted including then Aviation Commissioner Ira Jackson and City Councilman Buddy Fowlkes, despite prosecutors facing a “dream team” of attorneys led by the famed Bobby Lee Cook.
Ms. Yates also prosecuted former Mayor Bill Campbell on corruption charges. He was convicted of tax evasion charges and sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Yates also played a key role on the team of prosecutors that investigated the aftermath of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing which eventually led them to Eric Robert Rudolph who pleaded guilty to four bombings in exchange for life sentences without parole.
She oversaw the fraud case against former state schools superintendent Linda Schrenko and handled dozens of public corruption and fraud cases. Schrenko, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison in 2006 on charges of stealing more than $600,000 in federal education money.
Kent Alexander, a former U.S. attorney who worked with Yates on some of the office's high-profile cases, called Yates "one of the best trial attorneys in the city."
"Most people - except for people on the opposite side of the courtroom - are happy to see her get this position," said Alexander, who is now general counsel at Emory University.
Good Luck Sally Yates; God Bless You.
No comments:
Post a Comment