After Prosecutor's Firing, a Shift in Case

Justice Dept. Approves Plea After Pushing U.S. Attorney for Death Penalty

Justice Department officials have reversed course and approved a plea deal in a controversial death penalty case that may have prompted the firing of a U.S. attorney in Arizona nearly two years ago, according to court records and interviews.

Alleged methamphetamine dealer Jose Rios Rico is scheduled to appear in federal court in Phoenix on Sept. 2 to change his plea to capital murder and weapons offenses. The debate over whether to seek the death penalty against Rios Rico was a source of considerable tension between officials at Justice Department headquarters and former U.S. attorney Paul K. Charlton.

Charlton had argued that the case was short on forensic evidence and was not suitable for what he called "the ultimate penalty." But officials in Washington overruled him in fall 2006, and he later became one of nine top prosecutors who were fired en masse that year. In congressional testimony last year, then-Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said Charlton's reluctance to support the administration's position on capital punishment in the case amounted to "poor judgment" and attracted criticism in the department's political ranks.

This week, however, a federal judge in Arizona directed both sides in the Rios Rico case to appear "for a change of plea," signaling that authorities now in control at Justice have backed away from the hard-line stance. Gonzales resigned from the department last year as the scandal over the U.S. attorneys' firing intensified. He was replaced by longtime federal judge Michael B. Mukasey.

James J. Belanger, a defense lawyer for Rios Rico, said details of the plea agreement are still being finalized. "The parties' intention is to go ahead and resolve the case," he said. "We've reached the parameters of a plea" that would not involve capital punishment.

Now in private practice, Charlton said he is "heartened" by the Justice Department's apparent shift in course.

"There was a complete breakdown in what really is one of the most important decision-making processes at the Department of Justice," Charlton said in an interview. "This was a decision that seemed to me to be dictated by a certain dogma or political idea as opposed to the facts."

Rios Rico was indicted on multiple drug and weapons charges three years ago. Authorities also accused him of murdering Angela Pinkerton, his methamphetamine supplier, though her body was never found. Prosecutors believe that Pinkerton is buried in a Mobile, Ariz., landfill, but Justice officials in Washington refused to pay the estimated $500,000 to $1 million it would have cost to exhume her body, Charlton told the Senate Judiciary Committee last year.

Keith E. Vercauteren, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, referred calls to a spokeswoman. Sandy Raynor, who handles media calls for the U.S. attorney in Phoenix, directed the inquiry to authorities in Washington, who declined to comment yesterday.

In cases in which a defendant is eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors must follow internal procedures that include a sign-off by the attorney general. Likewise, the attorney general himself must approve a change in course, according to former department officials.

The Justice Department's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility have been investigating the reasons for the U.S. attorney firings for months. Their report is hotly anticipated by lawyers and lawmakers.