The San Antonio federal prosecutor at the center of a politically charged case against two Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler resigned Thursday. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton submitted his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, said Shana Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western Judicial District of Texas.
Sutton’s resignation was voluntary, Jones said, and his future plans were not immediately disclosed. He was not available for comment.
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said Sutton “did a good job overall as U.S. attorney.”
Appointed to the office by President George W. Bush in 2001, Sutton followed a time-worn practice of stepping down to allow a new president to nominate a replacement.
During his tenure, Sutton became a lightning rod for conservatives angry with his prosecution of two Border Patrol agents in the cover up of a shooting of an unarmed drug smuggler near El Paso.
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were convicted of shooting at the fleeing smuggler and lying about it. They received 10-year sentences.
The New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict, and the Supreme Court refused to hear a further appeal. But Bush commuted the sentences in January and both men were released from custody in February.
