The sexual misconduct findings that toppled a federal judge in Alaska will prompt fresh scrutiny of the Biden-appointed US attorney there, according to two of her predecessors in the post and lawyers experienced in similar inquiries.
S. Lane Tucker, the Anchorage-based US attorney since 2022, wasn’t mentioned by name in a judicial panel’s July report that concluded Judge Joshua Kindred had inappropriately sexualized relationships with two Alaska prosecutors, forcing him to resign.
But defense lawyers are preparing to challenge dozens of cases involving Kindred and those prosecutors. Tucker also faces separate complaints to investigative agencies that raise questions about how the office leadership responded to the allegations.
In one, to the independent US Office of Special Counsel, Kindred’s former law clerk claims Tucker and other top managers retaliated against her after she reported the judge’s behavior to them. In the other, public defenders asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate alleged ethical breaches at the prosecutors’ office.
The IG has referred that complaint to Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which reviews attorney misconduct allegations, according to an Aug. 2 letter obtained by Bloomberg Law.
Robert Bundy and Karen Loeffler, Alaska’s US attorneys during the last two Democratic administrations, expect OPR to probe the office, which they said would inevitably include an examination of what Tucker knew, when she knew...
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