Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey/Flickr

In a speech yesterday, Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg pointed out that his office has not been given any information as to what triggered the investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Liberties Unit  and that the DOJ Civil Rights Unit has never used its resources and power to investigate a county prosecutor. KGVO News called up the National District Attorney's Association to speak with executive Directer, Scott Burns and find out if Van Valkenburg's accusations were true. According to Burns, at least in the last ten years, the use of the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Unit to investigate an elected District [County] Attorney's office is unheard of. Here's the full interview with Burns.

KGVO has contacted the U.S. Department of Justice but has not yet received a response.  The Montana Department of Justice sent us this statement.

“The Montana Department of Justice does not have authority to investigate civil rights violations.  There is no coordination between our department and the U.S. Department of Justice.  Our office was not informed of the investigation and we do not know why the U.S. DOJ decided to initiate an investigation.”

 

 

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