U.S. Department
of Justice
LEADERSHIP
U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz leads the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas along with FAUSA John Pearson, EAUSA Jennifer Lowery, EAUSA Brandon Fyffe, Criminal Chief Robb Johnson, Civil Chief Jill Venezia, and Appellate Chief Carmen Mitchell.
Aaron Reitz
U.S. Attorney
Immediately prior to his service as U.S. Attorney, Reitz was in private practice with Hance Scarborough, LLP, where he represented and counseled clients in litigation and investigations before federal and state courts and agencies, and advised corporations, executives, and public entities on complex constitutional, regulatory, administrative, and commercial disputes.
He had also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz, Deputy Attorney General for Legal Strategy under Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and clerked for now-Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court Jimmy Blalock.
Before law school, he was an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He spent nearly five years on active duty and deployed to the northern Helmand Province of Afghanistan, where he was embedded with the Afghan National Army. Reitz is still in the Marine Corps Reserve as a major.
Reitz earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M and juris doctor from University of Texas.
Learn more on the USA page.
John Pearson
First Assistant U.S. Attorney
John Pearson began his career with the Department of Justice in 2004 and joined the Southern District of Texas in 2012. Entering through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, he served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, a Trial Attorney in the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division, and a Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division.
During his time in the office, Pearson has worked as an AUSA in the Major Fraud, Program Fraud, and National Security & Public Corruption Sections. He has also served as the deputy chief of the Program Fraud and Major Fraud Sections, as well as the office’s financial crimes coordinator, health care fraud coordinator, and Hurricane Harvey working group coordinator. He was also Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney under two different U.S. Attorneys. Immediately prior to his appointment as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney, he served as Criminal Chief.
Pearson holds a B.A. from Princeton University and a J.D. with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law. After graduating from law school, he served as a clerk to the Honorable H. Emory Widener, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He is a veteran of the United States Navy.
Jennifer Lowery
Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney
Lowery joined the Southern District of Texas in 2008 but has been with the Department of Justice since 2000. She first served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and then an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas. During this time, she was detailed to Washington D.C. and New York, New York, as a hearing officer for the 9/11 Victims’ Compensation Fund. She later worked in Washington D.C. in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General and Executive Office for US Attorneys, in both their Counsel to Director’s Office and General Counsel’s Office.
While with the SDTX, Lowery has served as the office’s U.S. Attorney in various capacities as well as First Assistant USA, Executive AUSA, criminal chief, deputy criminal chief of the Program Fraud Section, acting deputy criminal chief of the Major Fraud Section, senior litigation counsel and ethics advisor in addition to being an AUSA in the Major Offenders, Fraud, and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Sections.
Prior to her federal service, Lowery was an Assistant Criminal District Attorney in the Jefferson County, Texas, District Attorney’s Office for eight years where she prosecuted hundreds of cases, including four capital murders. She served as a grand jury attorney, drug intake lawyer, drug diversion lawyer, misdemeanor chief and attorney and felony attorney.
Lowery holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas State University (formerly Southwest Texas State University) and a Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law.
Brandon Fyffe
Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney
Fyffe joined the Southern District of Texas in 2021 but has been with the Department of Justice since 2013. He was a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and later Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, before transferring to the District of New Mexico in 2016.
Throughout his DOJ career, Fyffe has prosecuted and provided forfeiture expertise to investigations involving fraud, money laundering, and controlled substances violations. He has also successfully defended the United States, federal law enforcement agents, and government employees in civil defensive matters. While in the SDTX, Fyffe has worked primarily on forfeiture and collections matters, most recently serving as the deputy chief for the Asset Recovery Unit.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and his Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Robb Johnson
Criminal Chief
Jill Venezia
Civil Chief
Venezia began her career with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston in October 1997 but began her service to the Department of Justice in 1989 with the USAO for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Throughout her DOJ career, she has worked in the Civil Division on affirmative and defensive litigation and the Financial Litigation Unit. She has held the titles and responsibilities of deputy civil chief, affirmative civil enforcement coordinator, civil health care fraud coordinator and senior litigation counsel.
Prior to that, she worked in private practice and was a federal judicial law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and Juris Doctor from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.
Carmen Mitchell
Appellate Chief
Mitchell began her career with the Southern District of Texas in 2008. Since that time, she has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Appellate Division where she authored direct appeals briefs and post-conviction responses, provided trial assistance to the Criminal Division, reviewed and edited briefs, presented at least 19 oral arguments before the Fifth Circuit and conducted trainings. Before becoming the chief of the Appellate Division in 2017, she served as its deputy chief.
Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she was a Harris County Assistant District Attorney in the Appellate Division in Houston for 11 years. While there, she worked on over 480 direct appeals, including eight capital murder death penalty appeals and presented more than 20 oral arguments, resulting in over 76 published opinions. She was also associate counsel on three respondent’s briefs in opposition in the U.S. Supreme Court while working at the Harris County D.A.’s Office.
Mitchell holds a B.A., cum laude, from Midwestern State University and a J.D., cum laude, from Texas Tech University School of Law.