Wyoming’s new US attorney is off to an historic bad start, so why did he get confirmed?

Most people who start a job as badly as Wyoming’s new U.S. Attorney Darin Smith did find themselves quickly unemployed.

Smith, as anyone who has looked at his incredible lack of credentials knows, isn’t remotely qualified for the position as the state’s top federal prosecutor. The former state senator from Cheyenne had no experience as either a prosecutor or defense attorney, and hadn’t argued any case in a courtroom or even requested an arrest warrant.

Smith’s nomination by President Donald Trump would be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious, outrageous mistake, a thumbing of the nose at the justice system by a chief executive who has a long history of picking the most unqualified people to lead powerful offices. A glance at Trump’s cabinet proves that.

Three days after three federal judges dismissed  charges against nine defendants — including one for first-degree murder — over Smith’s misconduct before a grand jury, he was confirmed in a partisan, en bloc vote by the U.S. Senate.

How is this possible? Well, in a U.S. Senate where not a single Republican member was willing to stand up to the president and vote against a package of U.S. attorney picks, an abysmal option got through.

Wyoming’s U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis cheered Smith’s nomination and voted to confirm him. They would have rubber-stamped any choice Trump made, probably even a rubber chicken.

As the interim U.S. attorney for Wyoming, Smith infamously led a March grand jury by calling defendants “murderers” and “bad people,” and promised the panel that its deliberations “won’t take long.” Smith also confirmed to a grand juror that these were indeed “slam dunk” cases, and even offered every member his business card.

Why did Smith make that latter move, when prosecutors are not supposed to communicate with grand jurors outside the court? Did he expect grand jurors to call him so they could go out for dinner and discuss what a great job he did? Toast each other for putting away so many bad guys?

“The cumulative effect of the many known instances of misconduct leaves the court with ‘grave doubt that the [grand jury’s] decision to indict was free from the substantial influence of such violations,’” wrote the three Wyoming federal judges who reviewed the cases and dismissed the charges.

The charges included first-degree murder on the Wind River Indian Reservation, along with felony firearm possession, drug distribution, and possession of child pornography, among other allegations.

The judges dismissed all charges “without prejudice,” meaning they could be re-filed at any time, which is what happened last week. Success on round two doesn’t amount to much in my book. Empaneling another grand jury was an unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars.

That’s evidenced by the fact that even the U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming called Smith’s comments “ill-advised.”

Ill-advised? What does it take to give a federal prosecutor an “F” grade on his report card?

Well, maybe a mass exodus is one way to assess how well Smith is doing his job. Four attorneys have left the office in the past month, and another is headed out the door in June.

Their support for Smith is an example of how well Wyoming’s two U.S. senators are able to assess what qualifies someone to be a high-ranking prosecutor in Trump’s administration. In a statement last year when Smith was chosen, Barrasso called him “well-qualified” and “a good conservative choice.”

Lummis, who is an attorney, said Smith “possesses the qualifications, experience, and values needed to take on this challenging role.” 

Perhaps by describing Smith as a good conservative, Barrasso is thinking about when our state’s new top federal prosecutor stood outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as it was being invaded by MAGA forces who were busy inside assaulting police officers, threatening members of Congress and calling for then-Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged.

There’s no evidence that Smith participated in any crimes during the riot, nor was he ever charged with anything connected to that horrible day. But he certainly didn’t attend so he could gather evidence against anyone on the off chance that he could be prosecuting them in a future Trump administration.

Meanwhile, the most angry admonitions not to confirm Smith came from the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Crimes on the reservation are generally prosecuted by the Wyoming-based U.S. attorney.

The tribes’ separate business councils expressed being appalled and alarmed by Smith’s handling of the grand jury and the subsequent dismissal of charges, including the first-degree murder charge against Joe Benito Ocon, who is accused of shooting a man in a moving car on the reservation. He faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of the crime.

Smith’s office is entrusted with prosecuting serious violent crimes under the federal Major Crimes Act — crimes that deeply impact Native families and communities.

“Federal prosecutors are expected to uphold the integrity of the justice system, not undermine it through reckless comments, improper familiarity with grand jurors, or conduct that creates the appearance of bias and prejudice,” the Northern Arapaho Business Council said in a statement. 

The council concluded, “The people of the Wind River Reservation deserve better.” 

So do we all. But that won’t happen with so many federal officials willing to make a mockery of the justice system and all it stands for by putting an inherently unqualified man in such a vital position.