With a looming deadline, Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday named 17 interim U.S. Attorneys, including one for the Western District of Missouri.
Timothy Garrison, an assistant federal prosecutor in the Western District’s Springfield office, was sworn in this morning and will assume his duties as the top federal prosecutor in the western half of the state on Friday.
A news release from the Western District said that Garrison has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney since 2007, prosecuting interstate and international drug trafficking, murder, money laundering and other crimes.
He is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the release.
“Timothy Garrison has served this country admirably as a Marine for 14 years and as a federal prosecutor for a decade,” Sessions said in the release. “He has gone after drug traffickers and gangs and he’s the kind of leader we need as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. In this new role, he is well positioned to tackle violent crime and keep the people of Missouri safe.”
Don Ledford, a spokesman for the Western District, said Garrison was introducing himself to members of the office on Thursday and would not be available for interviews.
Garrison replaces career prosecutor U.S. Attorney Tom Larson as the top federal prosecutor in the district. Larson was serving as acting U.S. Attorney after President Donald Trump in March ordered 46 U.S. Attorneys to resign, including Tammy Dickinson, who headed the Western District.
Sessions used his executive authority to appoint Garrison and 16 counterparts just a day before a 300-day deadline for acting U.S. Attorneys was set to expire.
Garrison’s nomination is subject to a 120-day limit. If Trump does not appoint a permanent replacement – whether Garrison or someone else – the federal court in the Western District of Missouri will make a temporary appointment, also subject to a 120-day deadline.
In September, Trump nominated Stephen McAllister, the solicitor general of Kansas and a former dean of the University of Kansas School of Law, to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas. The Senate voted to confirm him last month.
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor for KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
