Conflicts controversy follows revelation prosecutor sent nude photos to federal judge
Criminal Justice
Conflicts controversy follows revelation prosecutor sent nude photos to federal judge
A revelation that a prosecutor sent nude photos to a federal judge has led to an allegation that a U.S. attorney’s office tried to use the situation to force recusal. (Image from Shutterstock)
A revelation that a prosecutor sent nude photos to a federal judge has led to an allegation that a U.S. attorney’s office tried to use the situation to force recusal.
The second-in-command with the Alaska federal defender’s office, Gary Colbath, told Bloomberg Law that he thinks that the prosecutor was added to a murder case to force the recusal of U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred of the District of Alaska. The judge had a reputation for being more lenient in criminal cases.
After Colbath spoke with the lead prosecutor on the case, the prosecutor who sent nude photos withdrew, Colbath told Bloomberg Law.
Kindred abruptly announced his July 8 resignation before release of a judicial council order alleging that he had a “sexualized relationship” with one law clerk and had inappropriate discussions with others that included talk of his romantic preferences and sex life.
U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred of the District of Alaska. (Photo by Snickers2686, PD US Courts, via Wikimedia Commons)
The order also alleged that Kindred had received nude photos from a senior-level prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office who practiced before him. The report did not name the prosecutor.
Kindred also told law clerks about sexually suggestive text messages that he received from a local attorney who appeared before him, the report said.
The sexualized relationship with the law clerk continued when she became an assistant U.S. attorney, but she did not appear before Kindred in cases.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco began investigating Kindred in November 2022. A year later, he stopped hearing cases in which the more senior prosecutor was involved. Bloomberg Law pointed out, however, that “it’s unclear exactly when any potentially inappropriate conduct between the judge and her began.”
Now, Kindred’s cases are under review for possible conflicts of interest, Bloomberg Law reports. The U.S. attorney’s office in Alaska has identified more than 40 cases that might have required recusal, according to a prior Bloomberg Law article. Many included appearances by the senior prosecutor.
The former law clerk who joined the U.S. attorney’s office has since filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that the office retaliated against her after she reported Kindred’s misconduct, Bloomberg Law reports in another story. The clerk said she learned that her one-year term of employment would not be renewed in a September 2023 office-wide email.
The Bloomberg Law story did not specifically state whether the clerk is the one alleged to have a sexualized relationship with Kindred, but it said the article isn’t naming her because she is a survivor of sexual misconduct.
The law clerk’s lawyer, Kevin Owen, told Bloomberg Law that his client “bravely blew the whistle on not only Mr. Kindred’s misdeeds but also the misconduct of U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors who appeared in his courtroom.”
