Holder: Job of U.S. attorneys is justice

WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department will "take a hard look" at whether it needs more training or resources for its legal staff, Attorney General Eric Holder said.

A federal judge Tuesday tossed the conviction and indictment of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, after the Justice Department admitted evidence was mishandled in its corruption case. In addition, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan also initiated a criminal contempt investigation of the six federal prosecutors in the case.

"(We're) going to certainly take a hard look at a variety of things in the department, whether there is the need for greater training, whether the people and the attorneys in the department have sufficient resources," Holder said during a media availability Thursday.

Asked why he opted not to retry the case, Holder said, "It was my feeling that, based on the totality of the circumstances, the nature of the mistakes that were made, that the appropriate thing to do was for the department to dismiss the case and not to proceed."

The job of the lawyers in his office "is not to win cases," Holder said. "Their job ultimately is to do justice."