Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Northern District of Georgia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Bobby L. Christine named acting U.S. Attorney for Northern District of Georgia

ATLANTA – Bobby L. Christine has been named Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. U.S. Attorney Christine is currently the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, and will remain in that position while assuming the additional role in the Northern District.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdga/meet-us-attorney

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Meet the U.S. Attorney

Acting United States Attorney Peter Leary

Peter D. Leary

Peter D. Leary serves as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. Mr. Leary previously served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the district since 2018.

As Acting U.S. Attorney, Mr. Leary is the top-ranking federal law enforcement official in the Middle District of Georgia, which covers 70 of Georgia’s 159 counties, includes Albany, Athens, Columbus, Macon and Valdosta, and has a population of approximately 2,045,000 people. The office is responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the district, including crimes related to terrorism, public corruption, child exploitation, fraud, firearms, illegal gangs and narcotics. The office also defends the United States in civil cases and collects debts owed to the United States.

Mr. Leary has served the citizens of the Middle District of Georgia as a prosecutor since 2012. Since joining the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO), he has worked as the office’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC) coordinator, its Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) prosecutor and as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney. In 2019, he received the Anti-Defamation League’s SHIELD award with FBI and Department of Justice partners, and he shared the 2018 International Association of Chiefs of Police/Thomson Reuters Award for Excellence in Criminal Investigation with the FBI and GBI.

Raised in Watkinsville, Georgia, Mr. Leary received his B.A. and J.D. from University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar. After law school, Mr. Leary clerked for U.S. District Judge Hugh Lawson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Following his clerkship, Mr. Leary joined the Federal Programs Branch of the DOJ through its Honors Program, where he worked extensively with the Intelligence Community. In addition to his work at the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. Leary serves as adjunct faculty at Mercer University, teaching Criminal Justice.

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/meet-us-attorney

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Meet the U.S. Attorney

Bobby L. Christine

USA Bobby Christine

Bobby earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia, and his J.D. from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham. Bobby worked for a decade in the District Attorney’s Office in Augusta, where he prosecuted all manner of crime, including violent felonies and complex thefts. He is one of only a few prosecutors in modern Georgia to win a conviction for a murder case where the body of the victim has never been located.

Appointed Judge of Magistrate Court for Columbia County in 2005, he held that post continuously until November 2017, serving as Chief Magistrate from 2009-2012. From 2005 to 2017, Bobby also maintained a private practice concentrating in domestic, probate, personal injury, and criminal litigation.

On November 22, 2017, Bobby was sworn in as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, having been nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. On January 4, 2021, by written order of the President, Bobby was named Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

Bobby has been an Army reservist since the age of 17, both as a Combat Engineer and a Judge Advocate. A Brigadier General in the National Guard, he currently serves as the National Guard Advisor to the Judge Advocate General and Assistant to the Chief Counsel of the National Guard Bureau. He is a veteran of the war in Iraq, where he prosecuted among the war’s first courts-martial, and participated in the investigation of the Abu Ghraib matter. He is a graduate of the master’s degree program at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Bobby’s military awards and citations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Bronze Star medal, and the parachutist badge. In 2016, Bobby was selected the Army Career Judge Advocate of the Year. His current rank is Brigadier General.

He and his wife, Sheri, an elementary school teacher for Columbia County, have two daughters and one son. The Christine family resides in Evans.