U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: FEWER COURT CASES, SEVERAL REASONS

TAMPA (AP) -- Federal prosecutors from Fort Myers to Jacksonville have
filed the fewest cases in four years, with this year's drop credited to the
search for terrorists, a slowed economy, recent legal flops in court or a
leadership vacuum.

During the 2001 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, prosecutors in the huge
Middle District of Florida filed 96 fewer cases, or 8 percent fewer, than
they did in 2000, and the fewest since 1997.

Each of the 58 criminal prosecutors in the huge federal district that
stretches across central Florida into include parts of north Florida and
southwest Florida filed on average 19 cases in fiscal 2001.

That was 1.6 cases a month, and a 14 percent drop from their 1998 caseload.

The prosecutorial slump, according to interim U.S. Attorney Mac Cauley, was
partly because many FBI agents since Sept. 11, have worked exclusively on
the terrorist attacks and more recently on nonstop reports of suspicious
powders or anthrax hoaxes.

That has left little time for fraud, white-collar crime or drugs cases.

"I think we'll do worse next year. I think the FBI has almost shut down,"
apart from its terrorism investigations, Cauley says, noting those same
urgent probes also involve federal prosecutors.

"We agree this is our priority for the entire division and the entire
bureau," added Sara Oates, spokeswoman for the FBI's Tampa office.

However, the low year-end statistics made public last week by the U.S.
Attorney's Office also show productivity was down before Sept. 11.

"I don't believe there's a bunch of people over there playing canasta and
watching soap operas," defense lawyer Bill Jung, a former federal
prosecutor, said of the U.S. Attorney's Office. "I think it's cyclical. It
follows the economy."

White-collar crime, Jung argues, drops during economic slowdowns, because
less money is flowing into fraud schemes and boiler-room scams, and fewer
people have money to invest.

Another defense lawyer, Stephen Crawford, had another explanation.

"Historically, in the years where we have a transition in the U.S.
Attorney's Office, the caseloads have always been down," said Crawford,
also a former federal prosecutor. "In those years, you have more
experienced prosecutors retire or go into private practice."

Since Cauley took office in June, five prosecutors have resigned, and a
sixth, Ken Lawson, has been nominated to be assistant secretary of the U.S.
Treasury. Those vacancies can't be filled by Cauley, but will have to wait
until a new U.S. attorney is appointed.

Controversy also may have affected caseloads.

Four prosecutors are under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice
for possible misconduct. A fifth, Karen Cox, quit after being suspended
from practicing law for a year for hiding a witness' identity from a judge.

Last February, a federal magistrate threw out the highly publicized case
against Steve and Marlene Aisenberg, who had been accused of lying to
investigators over the disappearance of their daughter Sabrina.

That prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to appoint a special prosecutor to see if there
was possible misconduct in the Aisenberg case.

For Cauley, though, "It's just the natural ebb and flow of cases. ... Just
because there is an ease up in the flow of complex cases doesn't mean we're
not working on them."