ROANOKE -- U.S. Attorney John Brownlee, the top federal prosecutor in western Virginia, announced yesterday that he is resigning effective next month and is seriously considering running for state attorney general next year.

Brownlee, a 43-year-old Republican, said his last day in the prosecutor's job will be May 16, adding that he and his wife haven't yet firmed up their plans for the future. If Brownlee does run, his only certain opponent so far for the Republican nomination is state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Fairfax County.

"I'm going to take some time off," Brownlee said during a news conference in his office, where he was joined by his wife, Lee Ann, and their two daughters, Thompson, 8, and Cate, 3. "I spent a lot of time on the road. Daddy's gone a lot."

Brownlee noted that he wants to be out of the prosecutor's office in case he decides to run for attorney general. Meanwhile, he said, "I'll practice law somewhere here in Roanoke."

Brownlee was nominated to the post of overseeing federal cases in Virginia's western 52 counties in 2001 by President Bush. It's not uncommon for federal prosecutors to resign at the end of a president's second term since incoming presidents often prefer to put their own picks in the job. Brownlee is the sixth U.S. attorney to resign this year, according to the Department of Justice.

Brownlee's departure ends a seven-year tenure with several high-profile wins and losses: He was unable to convict the former head of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation of fraud (that executive, Richard Burrow, showed up at Brownlee's news conference yesterday). Brownlee also failed to convict a Roanoke pain doctor charged with illegally distributing OxyContin and other potent pills.

But last year Brownlee's office won a guilty plea from the ITT Corp, which agreed to pay a $100 million fine for illegally exporting classified night-vision technology. Two months later, a federal investigation led by Brownlee's team of prosecutors led drugmaker Purdue Pharma L.P. to agree to pay a $600 million penalty for hiding the addictive nature of OxyContin.

"I think he can claim some fairly substantial victories," said Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond. "I think he was controversial, but if you're not controversial as U.S. attorney, you're not doing your job."

Brownlee's pursuit of Purdue briefly put him on a Justice Department list of federal prosecutors to be fired. The justice official who compiled the list pressured Brownlee to slow down his investigation of the company, Brownlee testified before Congress last year.

Tobias said Brownlee could move into a top Justice Department job if he wanted to, or even join a major Washington law firm. Brownlee, though, said he only wants to spend more time with his family and, for now, ponder the attorney general job.

"It's something Lee Ann and I are seriously considering," he said. "I think public service is something that's important."
Contact Rex Bowman at (540) 344-3612 or rbowman@timesdispatch.com.