 "The role of the prosecutor is not really to go in and win cases. The role of the prosecutor really is to try to get the right answer for the right reasons. That’s a great pair of shoes to be wearing." — U.S. Attorney Pamela C. Marsh |
Marsh says she's honored that President Obama picked her to lead the U.S. Attorney's Northern District, but she says being a woman has less impact on her approach to her job than her ballet experience. Dancing professionally for ballet companies in Seattle and Fort Worth in the mid-1980s, she says, helped her become a more dogged prosecutor.
At nearly six feet tall, "I was taller than the average ballerina by probably a good five inches, so I had to work very hard to get anywhere in that career," she says. "I learned discipline above all else. Focus. Not giving up. All of those things still come into play."
Marsh manages the district's 36 assistant U.S. Attorneys and helps them focus on the department's priorities, including prosecuting cases in the following areas:
» Healthcare Fraud — "There are provisions within the healthcare bill that really strengthen our abilities to fight healthcare fraud. There's funding for added investigating agents from Health and Human Services, and penalties have been strengthened. The Northwest Florida Healthcare Fraud Task Force has been formed in the Pensacola/Panama City area. Another task force is planned for the eastern side of the district to include Gainesville and Tallahassee."
» Drug Trafficking — "In our district, we have Interstate 10 and we have Interstate 75, which are corridors for the southwest border. The Mexican cartels are a very difficult issue. The drug trafficking issue is focusing on interdicting large cartels trafficking through our district. But we don't stop with taking seven kilograms of cocaine off I-10. We continue to try to go all the way up the chain to the biggest and the baddest of guys."
» Anti-Terrorism/Homeland Security — "Some people might think that the Northern District isn't a hotbed of terrorism, but we have a lot of coastline, and we have military bases, so of course we're part of the effort. Anti-terrorism is our nationwide, top priority."
» Internet Crimes Against Children — "As hard as we have been prosecuting those cases — and in our district the number of prosecutions of people who target and prey on children on the internet has gone up every year — the way these crimes are being perpetrated continues to become more complex and more international in scope."
» Deepwater Horizon — "Oil spill fraud is likely coming our way, and we are preparing for that with respect to federal funds and BP funds coming through Ken Feinberg and his group working through those claims. I suspect that there will be some fraud to get those dollars away from the people who really need the dollars and deserve the dollars."