From the LA Times:

With the stack of ballots left to count sharply diminished, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris continued to hold a steady lead Tuesday in the race for attorney general, making victory over Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley all but assured.

Harris, the Democrat, led the Republican nominee by nearly 53,000 votes — 4,385,438 to 4,332,596 — according to a Times review of updated vote tallies in all 58 counties. Although the gap remains narrow in one of the closest statewide races in California history, the chance for Cooley to pick up enough votes to make up the difference appears increasingly remote.

The secretary of state reported late Tuesday that there were 154,806 ballots left uncounted statewide. To win, Cooley would need more than two-thirds of those to overtake the Democratic nominee. So far, the gap between the candidates has been less than a single percentage point. Moreover, about two-thirds of the remaining votes are in counties that Harris carried, including Contra Costa, Monterey and Sonoma.

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From Banner Graphic:

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced late Tuesday that he would act as legal counsel for a group of county prosecutors who have been named in a civil law suit filed through Marion Superior Court.

The suit, filed by Indianapolis law firm Roberts & Bishop, deals with the filing of civil forfeiture suits against the property of drug offenders or other criminals. Under Indiana law, prosecutors can seek to seize the proceeds of crime, and use those proceeds to fund law enforcement efforts.

Prosecutors in 78 of Indiana’s 92 counties — including Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter — are named as defendants in the case, which calls into question their handling of the proceeds in civil forfeiture cases. The suit alleges that the prosecutors have violated state statute that says any money left over in forfeiture cases after the enforcement fees associated with the case have been paid is to be turned over to Indiana’s Common School Fund.

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Following through on campaign promise, Attorney General-elect Mike DeWine will have a focus on speeding up the processing of evidence.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Incoming Attorney General Mike DeWine plans to have an office in the state’s crime lab, which he criticized during the campaign as slow and inefficient.

Working at the London-based Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation would shave more than half of the time off DeWine’s commute from his home in Cedarville as opposed to working at the attorney general’s main office in Columbus.

But DeWine says distance has nothing to do with it. The Republican spent much of the campaign criticizing Attorney General Richard Cordray’s management of the state crime lab, which assists local authorities with highly technical investigations involving DNA, ballistics, computer forensics and other specialized evidence.

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From trib.com:

Wyoming Gov.-elect Matt Mead picked Greg Phillips, a federal prosecutor and longtime friend, to serve as Wyoming state attorney general, Mead announced Monday.

Phillips, 50, has served for the past eight years as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cheyenne. Mead was Phillips’ boss there before Mead stepped down as U.S. Attorney in 2007.

Phillips also has worked as a lawyer for the state and in private practice with Mead in Cheyenne.

“Greg is a critical thinker and he gets the job done,” Mead said in a prepared statement. “His leadership is exactly what Wyoming needs to address tough issues such as federal health care mandates and wolf management.”

Mead said he believes Wyoming needs to take strong steps to make its views and needs heard when the federal government makes policy that affects the state.

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