Alaska Judge’s Links to Lawyer Didn’t Require Recusal, US Says

Joshua Kindred didn’t need to recuse himself from a case in which an Alaska prosecutor who sent him nude photos had “minor involvement,” the US attorney’s office argued Tuesday in the latest fallout from the former judge’s misconduct and resignation.

The senior assistant US attorney—who was found by a judicial committee to have sent Kindred nude photos as part of “flirtatious rapport”—didn’t formally enter an appearance in the case nor officially represent the government, the government said in a response brief.

Rather, she “only provided advice” to the two prosecutors assigned to the trial “and watched court proceedings, sitting in ...