Investigators say U.S. attorney lied about affair

PORTLAND — Former U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall sexually harassed a subordinate when he broke off their clandestine year-long affair, then lied to investigators when they inquired about it, a federal report indicates.

Marshall and her husband, Yamhill County Circuit Judge Ladd Wiles, live in McMinnville. He is a former deputy district attorney and she is a former deputy attorney general.

She is now working for the local law firm of Johnstone & Goodfellow, according to the Oregon State Bar directory.

The federal Office of the Inspector General released the findings in a brief investigative summary that did not identify Marshall by name. However, an official speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed she was the subject of the probe.

The Inspector General’s Office said Marshall won’t face criminal prosecution, but the findings will be forwarded to the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility. That office will decide whether her conduct warrants referral to appropriate bar authorities, the report indicated.

“By engaging in that affair, I failed the United States government, my fellow Oregonians, and most of all, my family,” Marshall said in a statement of response. “I am deeply sorry and will spend the rest of my life trying to make amends.”

Marshall cited health issues stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder after she resigned last year. However, her resignation followed reports she had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott M. Kerin, and harassed him with text messages when he broke it off.

The Inspector General’s Office found the “intimate personal relationship” lasted more than a year, during which time Marshall continued to participate in work-related matters involving the subordinate, constituting a conflict of interest.

Investigators determined the relationship, and the “multiple harassing communications” growing out of it, violated sexual harassment rules and regulations. They said Marshall compounded the problem by lying about the nature of the relationship when confronted.

They said she was ordered to have no contact with the assistant involved in the case, but violated that order in an attempt to impede the investigation. They said she told the subordinate he was the subject of the probe and advised him not to speak with them.

Office legal counsel John Lavinsky declined to discuss specifics of the case. He said names had been omitted to comply with the federal Privacy Act.

An Obama appointee, Marshall was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September 2011 and assumed the position the following month. She was replaced by Billy J. Williams in 2015.