A former U.S. Attorney is among three U.S. District Court nominations President Barack Obama made Wednesday.

Obama nominated Wilma Lewis, who was the U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2001, for the U.S. District Court for the Virgin Islands. She would succeed, Raymond Finch, who retired.

Wilma Lewis (Harvard University)

Lewis has been the Interior Department Land and Minerals Management assistant secretary since 2009, after serving a brief stint as senior adviser to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

She previously served as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation managing associate general counsel for litigation from 2007 to 2008 and was a partner at the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP from 2001 to 2007.

Lewis was the Interior Department associate solicitor for general law from 1993 to 1995 and inspector general from 1995 to 1998.

She also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C.  from 1986 to 1993, holding leadership posts in the office’s Civil Division. Lewis started her professional career as an associate at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson LLP from 1981 to 1986.

Lewis received her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College in 1978 and her law degree from Harvard University in 1981.

Obama also nominated Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Torresen for the U.S. District Court for Maine. She would succeed D. Brock Hornby, who retired.

Nancy Torresen (Facebook)

Torresen has spent almost 15 years as a prosecutor in the Maine U.S. Attorney’s Office. She first joined the office in 1990, working on civil matters for four years. Torresen came back to the office in 2001 to handle cases in Northern Maine after she spent seven years in the Maine attorney general office’s criminal division appellate section.

She also was a lawyer at the law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP from 1988 to 1990 and clerked for U.S. District Judge Conrad K. Cyr in Maine from 1987 to 1988.

Torresen received her undergraduate degree from Hope College in 1981 and her law degree from the University of Michigan in 1987.

The president also nominated New Orleans city attorney Nannette Brown for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She would succeed Stanwood R. Duval Jr., who retired.

Nanette Brown (Nola.gov)

Brown has been the city attorney for New Orleans since May 2010. She also served as the city’s sanitation department director from 1994 to 1996.

But she has spent most of her career in private practice, working at Chaffe McCall LLP from 2004 to 2007 and again from 2009 until 2010; Milling, Benson, Woodward LLP from 2000 to 2003; the Onebane Law Firm from 1996 to 1998 and Adams and Reese LLP from 1988 to 1992.

She also was a law professor at Loyola University from 2007 to 2009, Southern University from 1998 to 2000 and Tulane University from 1992 to 1994.

Brown received her undergraduate degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in 1985 and her law degree from Tulane in 1988. She also received a masters law degree from Tulane in 1998.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has yet to decide whether its agents will return to the U.S. Virgin Islands after an almost two-year absence, the website Ticklethewire.com reported Thursday.

The ATF withdrew its agents from the U.S. territory in November 2008 after a confrontation between agency officials and territorial police over the investigation of Special Agent William G. Clark, who was suspected of killing a neighbor in the Virgin Islands.

A territorial judge last month threw out the controversial murder case against Clark, who claimed the killing was in self-defense. The judge dismissed the case on a technicality.

The agency had about four agents in the Virgin Islands prior to its departure. The ATF first put agents in the territory about 22 years ago.

A key witness in the murder trial of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent jousted with a defense lawyer in a Virgin Islands courtroom on Wednesday, claiming that the official  intervened in an argument with her boyfriend against her wishes, the Associated Press reported.

William G. Clark claims he shot neighbor Marcus Sukow in self-defense during a 2008 domestic dispute between the man and his girlfriend, Marguerite Duncan. Clark said in a statement filed in federal court that a distraught Duncan asked for his help when her boyfriend was naked and pounding his fists on her car that was parked near the couple’s apartment in the U.S. Caribbean territory.

Duncan and Sukow had just returned from brunch at an Irish Pub. Sukow’s blood-alcohol level was 0.29 — almost four times the legal DWI limit in several parts of the United States, a medical examiner determined, according to the AP.

Clark said he later shot Sukow when the man lunged at him with a heavy, police-style metal flashlight. The ATF cleared Clark of wrongdoing after an internal inquiry into the shooting. (Read our four-part series on the case here.)

But Duncan disputed Clark’s account, saying she did not ask the ATF agent or other neighbors to intervene in the argument the couple had outside their apartment. She added that her boyfriend did not wield the flashlight “menacingly.”

“I just wanted to let everybody go back to their own personal business and stop gawking at us,” Duncan said, according to the AP.

Duncan apparently told a different story to police on the scene. But the woman said she wrote to investigators a few weeks after the shooting to take back the statements she had made.

Sukow, who was married, had desired to speak to Duncan about marriage the day of the shooting. Duncan said she declined to speak about the prospect before she went outside their apartment to get the newspaper.

The woman said her boyfriend was not abusive to her. But Clark and other neighbors said in court documents that the couple had a history of loud arguments.

Duncan in court Wednesday told Clark lawyer Mark Schamel, an attorney at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC in D.C., that she was unable to recall specific altercations prior to the shooting.

“It was two years ago, and there’s been a lot of trauma since, thank you,” she said, according to the AP.

Attorney General Eric Holder donned a yellow ribbon and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives badge at a national law enforcement conference Tuesday to show support for an ATF special agent on trial for murder in the Virgin Islands.

Eric Holder (ATF)

Holder wore the items to express solidarity with Special Agent William G. Clark at the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual conference after he met with ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson, who leads the agency, and Executive Assistant Director William J. Hoover, the agency’s no. 2 official, according to the ATF’s website.

A DOJ spokeswoman did not have an immediate comment for Main Justice.

The ATF cleared Clark of wrongdoing after an internal inquiry into the 2008 shooting of Marcus Sukow. Clark claims he shot Sukow in self-defense during a domestic dispute between the man and his girlfriend. But the Virgin Islands is pursuing murder charges against Clark; his trial began Monday. (Read our four-part series on the case here.)

The Attorney General is the latest member of the DOJ and law enforcement communities to show support for Clark.

Melson made a brief appearance earlier this month before the start of a D.C. rally that paid tribute to the ATF agent. The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents 25,000 officers, including ATF agents, and the FBI Agents Association, which includes about 12,000 current and former agents, also have expressed support for Clark. (Read our story on FBI Agents Association here.)

The website Ticklethewire.com first reported on Holder’s ribbon.

Members of the FBI community on Tuesday came out in support of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent on trial for murder in the Virgin Islands.

Konrad Motyka, president of the FBI Agents Association, which includes about 12,000 current and former agents, called on the Virgin Islands Superior Court to throw out the case against ATF Special Agent William G. Clark, who claims he shot and killed a neighbor in the U.S. Caribbean territory in self-defense. Motyka said his organization “stands firmly” behind the ATF agent.

“Special Agent Clark’s actions were in accordance with established rules and policies, and as such, the shooting was ruled justifiable by the ATF Shooting Incident Review Board (SIRB),” Motyka said in a statement. “Despite this, Special Agent Clark was charged with Second Degree Murder by the Attorney General’s Office in the U. S. Virgin Islands.”

Clark faces charges stemming from the fatal 2008 shooting of Marcus Sukow during a domestic dispute between the man and his girlfriend. Clark’s trial began Monday. (Read our four-part series on the case here.)

The ATF removed its agents from the Virgin Islands in November 2008 amid growing frustration with territorial authorities. There were about four agents in the territory.

Harry Rodriguez, an FBI spokesman for Virgin Islands operations, told Main Justice that the FBI has kept agents stationed in St. Thomas and St. Croix following the fallout from the Clark case.  But he declined comment on the number of agents in the territory.

Motyka said federal agencies with a presence in the Virgin Islands have advised their agents to be especially careful if the interact with territorial law enforcement officials.

“This is out of concern that their officers may not be able to perform their duties safely if they can be charged for crimes in that Territory in the commission of their sworn duty,” Motyka said. “This only hurts the citizens of the Virgin Islands.”

A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent facing controversial murder charges in the Virgin Islands will face a new judge when his trial starts Monday, the Associated Press reported.

William G. Clark (Provided)

Virgin Islands Superior Court Judge Brenda Hollar recused herself from the case against William G. Clark, who shot and killed a neighbor in the U.S. Caribbean territory.  Judge Edgar Ross will now handle the case.

Lawyers for Clark, who says the killing was in self-defense, filed court documents earlier this month asking for a new judge. The lawyers claimed that a member of the ATF agent’s legal team was unable to listen in on a 30-minute conversation between Hollar and a prosecutor handling the case, according to the AP.

Mark E. Schamel, a partner at the law firm of Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice PLLC in D.C., and former Virgin Islands Attorney General Kerry Drue are representing Clark.

They have argued that the ATF agent was improperly charged in territorial court. Clark’s lawyers also argued that charges should be filed in federal court because the ATF agent was acting within his capacity as a federal law enforcement official at the time of the shooting. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution requires state court judges to uphold federal laws even if they conflict with the state laws.

Hollar ruled in March that the Supremacy Clause does not apply to the Virgin Islands. Chief Judge Curtis Gomez of the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands also ruled against Clark, saying there was not enough evidence to suggest the ATF agent was acting as a federal law enforcement official at the time of the shooting.

The Clark legal team asked the judges to reconsider their positions. But the judges did not change their rulings.

The ATF agent’s lawyers earlier this month lost their appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, allowing the trial to proceed in territorial court.

The case against Clark has sparked outrage from members of Congress and the federal law enforcement community.

ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson, who has led the agency since April 2009, made a brief appearance before the start of a rally in D.C. in support of an ATF special agent. Melson has told ATF agents that he is “taking all possible actions to support Will.”

The agency has cleared Clark of wrongdoing after an internal inquiry into the 2008 shooting of Marcus Sukow. Clark shot Sukow during a domestic dispute between the man and his girlfriend. (Read our four-part series on the case here.)

Clark on Friday attended a pretrial hearing in the Virgin Islands on his case, according to the AP. The trial is slated to include testimony from high-ranking officials in the territory, including Gov. John P. deJongh.

Attorney General Vincent Frazer said the Clark prosecution is fair.

“No one is above the law,” Frazer told the AP. “The decision to proceed with the prosecution of William Clark was a legal decision based on the facts and a thorough investigation.”

Kenneth Melson (photo by Main Justice)

The head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Wednesday made a brief appearance before the start of a rally in D.C. in support of an ATF special agent facing controversial murder charges in the Virgin Islands.

ATF Deputy Director Kenneth Melson, who has led the agency since April 2009, spoke with some individuals gathered to support William G. Clark, who claims he shot and killed a neighbor in the U.S. Caribbean territory in self defense. But the top ATF official quickly departed right before the demonstration began.

Melson has told ATF agents that he is “taking all possible actions to support Will.” The agency has cleared Clark of wrongdoing after an internal inquiry into the 2008 shooting of Marcus Sukow. Clark shot Sukow during a domestic dispute between the man and his girlfriend. Territorial authorities brought manslaughter charges against Clark, and his trial is slated to begin Oct. 25. (Read our four-part series on the case here.)

An ATF spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

A few dozen members of the federal law enforcement community blew whistles, chanted and wielded signs in support of Clark at the rally, which was held outside the D.C. office of Virgin Islands Gov. John P. deJongh.

Jonathan Adler (photo by Andrew Ramonas / Main Justice)

Jonathan Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents 25,000 officers, including ATF agents, said the Virgin Islands is “completely out of control.” He said the federal law enforcement community does not respect the territory’s “kangaroo court.”

“We need to make sure everybody in America knows: the U.S. Virgin Islands, they’re taking those first two letters for granted,” Adler said, flanked by a U.S. flag and a sign that said the territory is “UNSAFE!.”

“They don’t deserve the U.S. in their name. Far as I’m concerned, we take those letters away, we keep our hero here,” he said.

The demonstration on Wednesday was the second rally in support of Clark. Rep. Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.) and members of the federal law enforcement community held a rally on Capitol Hill last month for the ATF agent.

Rep. Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.) on Thursday joined dozens of law enforcement officials on Capitol Hill to speak out against the prosecution of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent who shot and killed a neighbor in the Virgin Islands.

Christopher Lee (Gov)

Lee said William G. Clark acted in self defense when he fatally shot Marcus Sukow in 2008 after intervening in a domestic dispute between Sukow and the man’s girlfriend. Territorial authorities brought manslaughter charges against Clark, and his trial is slated to begin in October. (Read our four-part series on the case here.)

The House member introduced a resolution in July honoring Clark.

“Will was doing what his training and his background taught him to do – he was coming to the aid of a battered woman,” Lee said at the news conference on Thursday, according to a news release. “I’m pleased to join with a bipartisan group of senators and representatives to call attention to Will’s heroism and question his treatment in this case. America’s brave law enforcement officers need to know they will be supported for courageous and lawful actions to defend the innocent, not prosecuted for it.”

A Death In The Virgin Islands

When an off-duty agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shot and killed a man in the Virgin Islands almost two years ago, the case received scant attention on the mainland. Since then, the incident has unfolded into a bitter legal battle pitting Justice Department officials against territorial authorities. It has laid bare the resentments behind the public façade of cooperation and amicability between Washington and St. Thomas. This four-part exclusive series explores the tragic shooting, the rights of an off-duty federal agent in the Virgin Islands, the tense relationship between federal and territorial authorities and the intensifying political debate in the U.S. Congress over whether the ATF agent should be honored as a hero before a territorial court has even ruled on his guilt or innocence. 

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Part Four: An American Hero?

A shooting in 2008 by a federal agent at a Virgin Islands condominium has not only prompted local authorities to bring manslaughter charges against the agent. It has provoked a heated debate in the territorial legislature and the U.S. Congress and spawned hard feelings between the United States and the U.S. territory.

Rep. Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.) introduced a resolution in July honoring William G. Clark, a special agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who has said in legal documents that he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot a neighbor, Marcus Sukow. Clark, who was off-duty at the time, said he shot Sukow after intervening in a domestic dispute between Sukow and the man’s girlfriend.

Lee wrote in a June 30 letter to House members that Clark’s actions were “heroic, not criminal.” The agent is a native of Rochester, which is near the congressman’s district.

“Special Agent William G. Clark, a heroic man who puts his life on the line each day to protect the safety of others, is being wrongfully accused of murder and needs your help,” Lee wrote. The resolution has 24 co-sponsors, including four Democrats.

Rep. Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.) and Del. Donna Christensen (D-V.I.) have different opinions on whether William Clark, a special agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, should be honored for allegedly killing a man in self-defense. (Photos: Provided by the U.S. government)

Lee’s efforts have aroused complaints from Virgin Islands Del. Donna Christensen (D). In response to Lee, Christensen sent her own letter to House members on July 14, calling Lee’s resolution “inappropriate.”

“I respectfully request that Members of Congress not jump to conclusions on this matter and do not support this resolution which would be no more than a public relations tool to provide support for a defendant before the court,” wrote Christensen, a non-voting House member. “The people of the U.S. Virgin Islands believe in the American system of justice and believe that Agent Clark will receive a fair hearing before the courts.”

Clark, who has pleaded not guilty, is out on bail awaiting trial and continues to work for the ATF, a Justice Department agency. The DOJ is paying for Clark’s legal defense, and federal authorities have defended him, indicating their disapproval of the decision to try the agent for the killing.

Current territorial laws do not explicitly recognize federal agents like Clark as law enforcement officials. Without this recognition, federal agents acting in their official capacities might not receive the special standing bestowed on their Virgin Islands counterparts in territorial court proceedings.

In a scathing May 2009 letter obtained by a local news website, the St. Thomas Source, former acting U.S. Attorney Paul Murphy of the Virgin Islands wrote to territorial Attorney General Vincent F. Frazer that federal law enforcement officials in the territory fear they would be “treated by the [Virgin Islands Police Department] and your office as no more than ‘private citizens’ should something happen during their assistance.”

In response to such complaints, the Virgin Islands legislature is working on a bill that would give federal law enforcement officials rights that might have benefited the ATF agent.

The territorial attorney general, who supports the bill, has said the territory recognizes the agents as law enforcement officials when they are invited by the territorial authorities to assist in Virgin Islands police work, according to the St. Thomas Source.

Federal law enforcement agents have said the bill is meaningless.

Jonathan Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents 25,000 officers, including ATF agents, said the bill is a “pathetic plea” to get support from federal law enforcement officials. The ATF pulled out its agents from Virgin Islands in November 2008 over the territory’s handling of the Clark case. Adler said, “It means nothing.”

Clark, meanwhile, is trying to move forward with his life as the battle over his case plays out.

Since the killing, he has moved back to upstate New York where he has a fiance and a young son.

An individual who knows the ATF agent said he is doing well, but “under a tremendous amount of stress.”

If convicted, Clark could spend several years in a Virgin Islands prison, living among inmates who received their sentences through the efforts of law enforcement officials like him.

Clark’s trial is slated to begin in October.

A Death In The Virgin Islands

When an off-duty agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shot and killed a man in the Virgin Islands almost two years ago, the case received scant attention on the mainland. Since then, the incident has unfolded into a bitter legal battle pitting Justice Department officials against territorial authorities. It has laid bare the resentments behind the public façade of cooperation and amicability between Washington and St. Thomas. This four-part exclusive series explores the tragic shooting, the rights of an off-duty federal agent in the Virgin Islands, the tense relationship between federal and territorial authorities and the intensifying political debate in the U.S. Congress over whether the ATF agent should be honored as a hero before a territorial court has even ruled on his guilt or innocence. 

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Part Three: Rising Tension In A U.S. Territory

When a team of federal agents landed in the Virgin Islands to investigate a fatal shooting by a fellow agent in 2008, they almost got into a brawl with local police who refused to allow the federal investigators to take part in the inquiry.

The confrontation between agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and territorial police illustrated how the case of ATF Special Agent William G. Clark, who has been charged by local authorities with manslaughter, has damaged the already frayed relationship between federal and territorial authorities in the Virgin Islands.

The physical altercation that almost broke out between federal and territorial investigators came to light when a former acting U.S. Attorney in the Virgin Islands, Paul Murphy, wrote a scathing May 2009 letter to territorial Attorney General Vincent F. Frazer.

In the letter, which was later obtained by a local news website, The St. Thomas Source, Murphy said the Virgin Islands Police Department Major Crimes Unit, which probed the killing of Marcus Sukow, was extremely unprofessional in its interaction with the ATF, and that the two groups almost engaged in a “fist fight.’’

“[T]he exclusion of the ATF shooting team was a major contributor to the issues of complete mistrust that arose between the ATF and the VIPD and resulted in the ATF withdrawing all of its agents from the Virgin Islands,” Murphy wrote.

The ATF had about four agents in the Virgin Islands before it pulled its people out in November 2008. The Justice Department agency first stationed agents in the territory about 20 years prior to the withdrawal.

“I hate to see [the relationship] go south,” said David Nissman, who led the Virgin Islands U.S. Attorney’s Office from 2002 to 2004. “It hurts my community.”

A representative of the Virgin Islands Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment from Main Justice. A spokeswoman for the Virgin Islands Police Department told Main Justice that the relationship between territorial and federal law enforcement officials is not worsening. She then directed questions to Police Commissioner Novelle E. Francis Jr., who did not respond to requests for comment.

The Justice Department agency has supported Clark, who pleaded not guilty in territorial court in January 2009. He is free on bail pending the trial and continues to work for the ATF.

Clark and his lawyers say he fired the fatal shots only after an inebriated Sukow lunged at him with a heavy metal flashlight. The ATF agent, who was not on duty at the time, said he had been trying to break up a domestic dispute between Sukow and the man’s girlfriend. All three lived in the same condominium complex.

ATF officials are not alone in their mistrust of the Virgin Islands Police Department, according to Murphy. He said many Virgin Islands residents do not have faith in the territory’s police force.

The former acting U.S. Attorney said in the letter that witnesses to a March 2009 shooting that was unrelated to the Clark case “did not trust the Virgin Islands Police Department” and “flat out refused to talk to any member of the Virgin Islands Police Department.”

Federal authorities assisted in the investigation at the request of territorial police, but the federal officials later withdrew their support, expressing concern with the fallout from the Clark case, according to Murphy.

In a second letter, also obtained by the St. Thomas Source, the territorial attorney general responded to Murphy, saying the withdrawal was “disingenuous” after both sides took steps to work together on the investigation.

Curtis Gomez, the chief federal judge in the territory, appointed Ronald Sharpe in September 2009 to replace Murphy, whose term as acting U.S. Attorney was set to expire that month. Murphy, who is from Minnesota, is now the Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the St. Paul branch of the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sharpe said in a statement to Main Justice that he is “fully committed” to working with the Virgin Islands Police Department to fight violent crime. All federal law enforcement agencies — except the ATF — continue to assist territorial law enforcement agencies, Sharpe said. Murphy and Gomez did not respond to requests for comment from Main Justice.

Nissman said “some tension” has always existed between the federal and territorial law enforcement officials.

Federal authorities fear that Virgin Island leaders often make decisions that are tainted by corruption, while territorial officials are said to believe they are treated as a “stepchild” by the U.S. government, Nissman said.

Nissman, now a partner at The McChain Nissman Law Group LLC in Christiansted, Virgin Islands, said, “Federal agents feel like they cannot depend on the local government for law enforcement support.”

Tomorrow, Part Four: An American Hero?