ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES TO APPOINT MICHAEL A. BATTLE
DIRECTOR OF THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. ATTORNEYS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today announced that he will appoint Michael A. Battle as Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) at the Department of Justice on June 6, 2005. Battle has served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York since January 2002 and will resign prior to taking office as Director of EOUSA. He will succeed Mary Beth Buchanan, who has served as simultaneously as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and Director of EOUSA since June 2004. She will continue to serve as U.S. Attorney, an office she has held since September 2001.

“Throughout his career as a prosecutor, civil attorney, judge, and public defender, Michael has served with distinction,” said Attorney General Gonzales. “As Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, he will bring with him a high degree of legal expertise and practical experience. Michael is an outstanding lawyer and a dedicated public servant, and I thank him for his continued service with the Department of Justice.”

Battle has been a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys since January 2004, serving on the Subcommittees on Civil Rights, Sentencing Guidelines, and White Collar Fraud. In June 1996, he was appointed by Governor Pataki to serve as a judge on the Erie County (New York) Family Court and was elected the following November to a full 10-year term. From 1995 to 1996, he served as Assistant in Charge of the Buffalo office of the New York State Attorney General. In 1992, he helped to establish the Rochester and Buffalo Federal Public Defender’s Offices, where he served until 1995. From 1985 to 1992, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Buffalo, where he served in the General Criminal Division, the Civil Division, and on the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. Following his admission to the New York bar, he worked as a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society Civil Division.

Battle is a past president of the Minority Bar Association of Western New York and a member of numerous boards and organizations, including the YMCA of Greater Buffalo Board of Directors, the Greater Niagara Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School Dean’s Advisory Council.

“Mary Beth’s contribution to EOUSA has been tremendous,” said Attorney General Gonzales. “In more than 15 years with the Justice Department, she has served with excellence in every position that she has held. I wish her all the best as she continues to uphold those high standards as a United States Attorney.”

EOUSA provides administrative oversight to the 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices across the country. In addition, EOUSA also serves as a liaison between the U.S. Attorneys and other federal agencies and Department of Justice components.

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