Gretchen C. F. Shappert is an attorney. She has served as the United States Attorney for the

Western District of North Carolina The United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (in case citations, W.D.N.C.) is a federal district court which covers the western third of North Carolina. Appeals from the Western District of North Carolina are tak ...

from 2004 to 2009 and the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the District of the Virgin Islands from 2018 to 2022. Shappert passed the North Carolina bar in 1980. She graduated from Duke University in 1977, and from Washington and Lee Law School. She was in private practice and was an assistant district attorney and an assistant public defender in

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

before becoming a federal prosecutor. Shappert stressed tough prosecution of drug offenders while in office. Shappert also served as chair of the Justice Department's subcommittee on Native American issues. Shappert also opposed retroactively lessening prison sentences related to

crack-cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

. Shappert resigned as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina in March 2009. In addition to prosecuting serious drug offenses, Shappert is also keenly interested in anti-terrorism efforts. Shappert recently published an article about Attorney General Amos Akerman's leadership in prosecuting the Ku Klux Klan immediately after the civil war in what Shappert describes as "the worst outbreak of domestic violence in American history to date." Shappert has also co-authored an article on the Crime Fraud Exception to the Attorney-Client Privilege. DOJ Journal of Federal Law and Practice, May 202

Shappert became the Court-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands on April 23, 2018. On February 8, 2021, she along with 55 other Trump-era attorneys were asked to resign. She has not resigned as of December 31, 2021. On September 28, 2021, Joe Biden nominated Assistant U.S. Attorney Delia Smith to serve as the U.S. Attorney.

References

Sources

Transcript of testimony of Shappert before House Judiciary Committee

External links

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers District attorneys in North Carolina North Carolina lawyers Public defenders United States Attorneys for the Western District of North Carolina United States Attorneys for the District of the Virgin Islands {{NorthCarolina-stub