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Craig S. Morford

Craig S. Morford

 


Craig S. Morford

Born in 1959, Craig S. Morford is a prolific American attorney and former acting Deputy Attorney General of the United States. Craig S. Morford is most widely known for his successful prosecution of James A. Traficant. Moreover, Craig S. Morford gained prominence by crafting The Morford Report which was written after the overturning of the Detroit Sleeper Cell convictions in 2003.

Craig S. Morford was raised in Schenectady, New York to a middle-class family. His father worked for Pilsbury products and his mother was a homemaker who also sold women’s clothing during in-home shows. Craig S. Morford is married and has four children between the ages of 13 and 22. The former United States Deputy Attorney General currently lives in Rocky River, Ohio.

Craig S. Morford graduated from Hope College in 1981 with a degree in Economics. Upon graduation, Craig S. Morford took an internship with Senator Harrison Schmitt of New Mexico. In 1984, Craig S. Morford graduated from the Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana.

Craig S. Morford: Career

Craig S. Morford worked for the United states Justice Department for over twenty years. During this time, Craig S. Morford spent the majority of his career pursuing organized-crime and public-corruption cases in Cleveland.

Craig S. Morford won several convictions against notorious mob bosses, including Lennie Strollo and his gang. From 1996 to 2002, Craig S. Morford won 70 convictions against corrupt politicians and mobsters in the Mahoning Valley and Youngstown, Ohio.

In 2002, Craig S. Morford was the lead prosecutor in a case against then-Congressman James Traficant, who was convicted of racketeering and bribery. Craig S. Morford, in this trial, was acting as the United States Deputy Attorney General. On July 16th of 2002, the House Committee Standards of Official Conduct convened a misconduct hearing. During this hearing, a testimony offered by Richard Detore claimed that Craig S. Morford was allegedly committing prosecutorial misconduct and witness tampering relating to previously-handled cases. Even without exculpatory evidence, Craig S. Morford indicted Detore with one count of conspiracy. That said, Traficant was ultimately acquitted by a jury.

Craig S. Morford: The Morford Report

After a nine-month internal review of the Sleeper cell case, the United States Department of Justice findings showed that prosecutors railroaded the defendants by concealing dozens of pieces of evidence that should have been provided to defense attorneys during the trial. On September 2nd of 2004, a US district judge threw out the June 2003 convictions of three Detroit men.

The internal investigation report submitted by Craig S. Morford on august 31st of 2004 found that the prosecution withheld from the defense an assortment of photographs, e-mails and witness statements and that these errors were so widespread throughout the case that there was no reasonable prospect of winning on appeal.  

 

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