Civil Division
The Civil Division is responsible for representing the interests of the United States and its agencies in the courts of the Eastern District of Texas. The Division is supervised by the Civil Chief, who is located in the Tyler office along with three other civil AUSAs. Two additional civil AUSAs are stationed in the Beaumont office. The Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) Coordinator for the District is currently assigned to the Plano office, along with another AUSA who handles defensive cases.
The priorities of the Civil Division are defending the United States in cases brought against it, affirmatively pursuing civil remedies and penalties for fraud against the government, and enforcing criminal fine and restitution orders.
The Division handles a wide variety of defensive cases including employment discrimination cases, Federal Tort Claims Act claims (including medical malpractice, personal injury and wrongful death cases), immigration, prisoners' suits and commercial litigation.
The division has an ACE AUSA and investigator who pursue causes of action for fraud against the government and drug diversion, as parallel proceedings with criminal cases and as civil penalty only cases. In fact, the ACE program recovers millions of dollars every year on behalf of America's taxpayers.
The District has an award winning, aggressive Financial Litigation Unit that enforces federal and non-federal restitution orders and fines. The unit is also responsible for collecting civil judgments owed to the United States.
The Criminal Division
The Criminal Division is the largest of the District's divisions. Assistant United States Attorneys in this Division work closely with agents and officers from a variety of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute individuals and organizations who violate the federal criminal laws. During the calendar year 2009, 938 defendants were convicted and were sentenced to a collective 5433 years in prison. In calendar year 2010, approximately 1200 defendants were indicted for various crimes.
Supervised by the Criminal Division Chief who is presently stationed in Tyler, Texas, the Criminal Division has over 40 prosecutors stationed in Beaumont, Lufkin, Tyler, Texarkana, Plano and Sherman. There are Supervisory Assistant United States Attorneys in the Beaumont, Lufkin, Sherman, Tyler and Plano offices. All offices emphasize prosecuting cases that are consistent with the prosecutorial priorities established by the Attorney General of the United States. Typically Eastern District prosecutors work in the following areas: