Tommy Chong prosecutor won’t resign (as customary) when Obama takes office

Buchanan doesn’t plan to step down as U.S. attorney
Despite a new administration coming into power, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said she plans to stick around.

“It doesn’t serve justice for all the U.S. attorneys to submit their resignations all at one time,” she said yesterday.

U.S. attorneys serve at the discretion of the president and may be hired and fired at will, although their appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. When a new president is elected, U.S. attorneys of both parties generally tender their resignations.

Instead, the Republican said she plans to continue her work in the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Now, we all remember Mary Beth Buchanan from her persecution prosecution of Tommy Chong for being caught in a DEA sting selling glass bongs over the internet.  Radley Balko’s been paying real close attention to some of the other notable Buchanan cases:

Soon after then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that fighting porn would be a priority during his tenure, Buchanan brought the first federal obscenity case in 20 years, against porn producer Extreme Associates.  She also prosecuted Karen Fletcher, believed to be the first person convicted on federal obscenity charges for distributing written material. Despite an embarassing defeat in court, Buchanan is also still pursuing charges against Pennsylvania medical examiner Dr. Cyril Wecht, a case so reeking in political opportunism that former Bush 41 Attorney General Dick Thornburgh agreed to represent Wecht, and has since publicly accused Buchanan of using her office for baseless, partisan prosecutions of Democrats.

I’ve written pretty extensively of what I think is one of Buchanan’s most outrageous cases.  It’s her prosecution of Dr. Bernard Rottschaefer, a Pennsylvania physician Buchanan put in prison for allegedly writing Oxy prescriptions in exchange for sex.  Since Rottschaeffer’s conviction, Buchanan’s case has fallen to pieces, as each of the five witnesses who testified to getting illegal prescriptions from Rottschaeffer have since been shown to have lied.  Buchanan refuses to reopen the case.  She also refuses to pursue perjury charges against her star witness, Jennifer Riggle, who explicitly conceded in letters to her boyfriend that she lied on the witness stand.

Wow, imprisoning aging hippie movie stars for selling glass, busting people for filming and writing about sex, and refusing to free a doctor falsely accused by five proven liars.  It’s a good thing there is no real crime in Western Pennsylvania for Mary Beth to worry about.  Gee, with a résumé of proven law enforcement prioritization and effectiveness like this, you’d think she was running for Drug Czar.