Fear Eats The Soul: Stevens Prosecutor Commits Suicide

The botched prosecution and conviction of Ted Stevens, which ended with the court throwing out Stevens' conviction on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, continues to take its grim toll. Now one of Stevens' prosecutors, who was himself under investigation for his actions during the Stevens case, has committed suicide

A federal prosecutor who was among those being investigated over the Justice Department's troubled pursuit of the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens committed suicide over the weekend, his attorney said Monday.

Nicholas Marsh was among several lawyers from the department's public integrity section who were under scrutiny for missteps in the prosecution of Mr. Stevens, including not turning over exculpatory evidence to the defense.

Robert Luskin, Mr. Marsh's lawyer, said the 37-year-old attorney's wife informed him Sunday of the death. Mr. Luskin said he didn't have details of how it occurred. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington said it didn't have any information about the death. The District of Columbia medical examiner didn't respond to a call seeking comment.

A federal judge dismissed last year Mr. Stevens's conviction on corruption charges, at the request of Attorney General Eric Holder, and appointed a special investigator to probe the Justice Department's handling of the case.

Marsh's attorney says he's bewildered that Marsh would take this step, as he had "every reason to think he would have been exonerated." Of course!

The Stevens prosecution was one of the underreported outrages of the last few years. That is not to say that the story was underreported. The Stevens conviction was trumpeted from the rooftops. It was only the aftermath that has been relegated to briefs squibs on page A-15. Stevens' conviction was on his record for less than a year, yet that was enough for Stevens to lose a seat he would not have otherwise lost. And with that lost seat was also lost the 41st vote to filibuster health care reform, among other things.

Marsh was one of those supposedly "non-partisan" career prosecutors, rather than a political appointee. Yet, he participated in a political prosecution that had outsized political results.