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Warfield to replace Moots as NMI’s chief prosecutor
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Posted on Jan 27 2006
Assistant attorney general Jeffery L. Warfield Sr. will replace Jeffrey Moots as the Commonwealth’s chief criminal prosecutor beginning March 2006.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Gregory announced yesterday that Moots has accepted a position in Guam and will be leaving the island in March.
Warfield, who has been with the AGO’s Criminal Division since June 2004, will be the new chief prosecutor.
“It is an honor and privilege to accept the position of chief criminal prosecutor. Although we will face some tough challenges due to budget and personnel constraints that are affecting every governmental entity within the Commonwealth, I am confident we can build on the momentum and improvements the office has experienced under the leadership of Chief Jeffrey Moots and former Chief Prosecutor David Hutton,” read a portion of Warfield’s media statement.
He vowed to have “competent, professional and courteous” criminal prosecutors and to ensure that CNMI laws are enforced regardless of race, class, national origin, or political affiliation.
“I am appreciative of the administration’s confidence in my ability to assume this vital role, and I will do my utmost to ensure that their confidence has not been misplaced,” he said.
Warfield completed his bachelor’s degree in political science at Stanford University. He went on to finish his law degree at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.
He has worked at the Metropolitan Public Defender’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee, representing mostly indigent clients. He was in private practice when he was offered a job with the CNMI Attorney General’s Office in 1994.
For his part, Moots was named to the position of chief prosecutor in April 2005. He replaced Hutton, who was then appointed as the lead lawyer for cases concerning the local garment industry.
