U.S. Attorney in Western Virginia Resigns

U.S. Attorney John Brownlee for the Western District of Virginia, who was once placed on a Justice Department list of prosecutors to be fired, announced yesterday that he will step down next month and is mulling a run for state attorney general.

Last year Brownlee testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that in 2006 Michael Elston — then chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty — had called him on the eve of a guilty plea from Purdue Pharma, the maker of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, and urged him to slow down.

Brownlee ignored that suggestion and obtained a $635 million settlement from Purdue Pharma and guilty pleas from three executives to misdemeanor charges.

A week later, in November 2006, Brownlee’s name appeared on a list of prosecutors to consider firing. Ultimately, Brownlee was not terminated, and he scored another victory last year: a $100 million settlement with defense contractor ITT Corp. in an arms export control case involving sensitive technology transferred to China.

A Republican, Brownlee told reporters at a news conference Thursday that he plans to practice law somewhere in Roanoke, Va., for the time being before deciding whether to run for attorney general, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.