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Obama nominates Hochul '84 to be U.S. attorney for WNY

By Peter Simon, Buffalo News Staff Reporter

William J. Hochul Jr., a career federal prosecutor who handled the Lackawanna Six case and other high profile criminal prosecutions, has been nominated by President Obama to be the next U.S. attorney for Western New York.

Hochul's nomination has been expected since May, when Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recommended him for the post. If the Senate approves the nomination, as expected, Hochul would oversee hundreds of criminal and civil cases.

Obama also nominated six others for U.S. attorney posts in different jurisdictions.

"These men and women have not only the legal experience and aptitude, but the commitment to public service to make exemplary United States attorneys," Obama said in a written statement. "I am honored to nominate them and look forward to their continued service on behalf of the American people."

Hochul, who is 50, declined to comment because the confirmation process is not yet complete.

He came to the U.S. Attorney's office in Buffalo about 20 years ago after an assignment in Washington and developed a reputation as a hard-nosed prosecutor who was assigned some of the biggest federal prosecutions in Western New York.

In a case that attracted nationwide attention in 2002, Hochul was lead prosecutor of the "Lackawanna Six" - a group of young Muslim-American men from Lackawanna who trained at a camp in Afghanistan run by the al-Qaida terrorist network.

And in a case that was ultimately dismissed last year, Hochul prosecuted Steven J. Kurtz, a University at Buffalo art professor. Kurtz was accused of illegally obtaining bacteria for an anti-government art exhibit. Kurtz's co-defendant, a researcher from Pittsburgh, took a guilty plea.

Hochul also prosecuted Donald "Sly" Green, a notorious street gang leader, and leaders of Laborers Local 91.

Hochul has served as chief of the local U.S. Attorney's National Security Division since 2007, and was chief of the Anti-Terrorism Unit from 2002 to 2007.

Before coming to Buffalo, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington from 1987 to 1991. Hochul is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University at Buffalo Law School.

Terrance P. Flynn, a former local U.S. attorney and a Republican, resigned after Obama's election. Kathleen M. Mehltretter was been the local U.S. attorney in the meantime, but she did not seek the long-term nomination.

During the administration of President George W. Bush, Hochul was passed over for a promotion - a counterterrorism detail in Washington - because of the Democratic Party activities of his wife, Erie County Clerk Kathleen C. Hochul, according to a report issued last year by the Justice Department's inspector general.

Although Hochul had won national honors for his work on the Lackawanna Six case, the job was given to a Republican Party lawyer with no counterterrorism experience, the report said.