The Office of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia welcomes Acting United States Attorney Peter D. Leary, who was named Chief Federal Prosecutor on December 14, 2020. The changes made in the Office were done in response to the resignation of former United States Attorney Charles E. Peeler in the previous week.
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Education
A J. Mack Robinson Jefferson Scholar from Watkinsville, Georgia, U.S. Attorney Peter Leary earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Virginia in 2000 and subsequently received his Juris Doctorate also from the University of Virginia in 2005.
Legal Career
Following his graduation from law school, U.S. Attorney Peter Leary began his legal career as a Law Clerk under the United States District Judge Hugh Lawson of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. After his clerkship at the U.S. District Court, United States Attorney Leary was granted the opportunity to join the Federal Programs Branch of the Department of Justice through the Honors Program. In this capacity, U.S. Attorney Peter Leary was able to work extensively with the Intelligence Community.
With over a decade of service for the Middle District of Georgia citizens, United States Attorney Peter Leary has spent over eight of those years serving as a prosecutor in the Office of the United States Attorney, where he managed to work on various cases litigations. Since joining the United States Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney Leary worked on coordinating anti-terrorism initiatives, instituting and supporting anti-terror training programs, facilitating intelligence and information sharing regarding anti-terrorism and its initiatives across all levels of government, as well as working on preventing and disrupting terrorism activity within the district by implementing aggressive investigation and prosecution – all of which were executed by U.S. Attorney Leary during his service as the coordinator of the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC) of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia. On top of being the ATAC coordinator, U.S. Attorney Leary was also in service to the Office as a prosecutor of Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In this position, U.S. Attorney Peter Leary has worked on investigating and prosecuting computer crime and intellectual property crime, as well as cases involving privacy invasion by criminals.
Prior to becoming the Top Federal Prosecutor of the Middle District of Georgia, U.S. Attorney Leary served as the First Assistant United States Attorney in the Office. During his years of service at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney Leary also managed to serve as an adjunct faculty teaching Criminal Justice at the Mercer University.
Honors and Awards
In 2018, U.S. Attorney Leary received the International Association of Chiefs of Police/Thomson Reuters Award for Excellence in Criminal Investigation, which he shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in recognition of their exceptional innovation in criminal investigations. A year later, in 2019, he was also given the Anti-Defamation League’s Service, Honor, Integrity, Excellence, Leadership, and Dedication (SHIELD) Award with the FBI and the Department of Justice partners.
Academic Organizations, Membership, and Scholarships
In his early years, United States Attorney Peter Leary was a part of the Cavalier Daily as an Associate Sports Editor. It was also named as an Outstanding First-Year Staff Member. He was also a Sigma Chi Pledge Class President and Chapter Editor, and a reader of the Learning Needs and Evaluation Center. U.S. Attorney Leary was also once a Writers Corp Program Director of the Madison House, an Inter-Fraternity Council Governing Boras, Community Service Chair, and Party Patrol. Among other things, United States Attorney Leary was the Founder and President of the Greek Recycling Program. Excelling in his academics, U.S. Attorney Peter Leary was also appointed, and an Honor System, Honor Advisor, Education vice-chair, and was also named as the Class of 2000 Trustee.
With his academic excellence, U.S. Attorney Leary has received numerous recognitions and scholarship grants, including the Dr. Respess Community Service Award, the Intermediate Honors, a Dean’s List Award, an Echols Scholarship, and the Political and Social Thought Distinguished Majors Program. Moreover, he was given the opportunity to be a member of various organizations such as the Omicron Delta Kappa and the Raven Society.
Office Jurisdiction
As the interim United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, Peter D. Leary, holds the Office that comprises 70 out of Georgia’s 159 counties, including Albany, Athens, Columbus, Macon Valdosta. In total, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia oversees a population of over 2,045,000 citizens. Furthermore, U.S. Attorney Leary is responsible for managing prosecutions of federal crimes in the district, such as cases involving child exploitation, corruption, firearms, fraud, illegal gangs, narcotics, and public corruption. In addition, the Office under the United States Attorney Peter Leary shall also defend the United States in civil cases and collect debts owed to the United States.
Contact Details
Full Name: Peter D. Leary
District/State: Middle District of Georgia
Public email ID: peter.leary@usdoj.gov
Executive Office for United States Attorneys
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2242
Washington, DC 20530-0001
(202) 514-2000
Main
Social Media Profiles of Peter Leary
Username: U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia
URL: https://www.facebook.com/usaomdga/
Twitter Field
Username: US Attorney MDGA
Tag: @USAO_MDGA
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Updated: December 24, 2020