Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Higginson, the prosecuting attorney in the federal government's case against former New Orleans attorney Ashton R. O'Dwyer, Jr, is intent on sending O'Dwyer back to prison on the flimsiest of charges that he threatened a judge in an email.  Although the alleged threat was dismissed as nonexistent by an impartial federal judge from a different district, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Orleans remains determined to silence O'Dwyer.

Previous accounts about the malicious prosecution of O'Dwyer have appeared in
OpEdNews and on my Web site.

Higginson now appears headed for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the same appellate court that is currently deciding the government's case against O'Dwyer.  Thus far, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has missed the opportunity to learn from him why the government is so insistent on sending O'Dwyer back to jail.

Higginson, would appear to be uniquely qualified to explain why the government wants to imprison an individual on apparently meritless charges.  At issue is whether the government should be able to employ a pretext for the purpose of incarcerating a citizen who has become a target for political reasons, as appears to be the case with O'Dwyer.