Leigha Simonton

Leigha Amy Simonton is an American lawyer and former career federal prosecutor who served as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas from 2022 to 2025.

Education

Simonton is originally from Louisiana and moved to the Dallas area as a teenager, where she attended L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas. She later earned a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors in history from the University of Texas at Austin in 1997, graduating early. Her first summer in law school, she interned for the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas.

Career

After graduating from Yale, Simonton returned to Dallas to serve as a law clerk for Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas from 2001 to 2002 and for Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 2002 to 2003. During her almost 18 years in this role, she served in several leadership roles within the office, including Appellate Chief and Deputy Appellate Chief. As an appellate prosecutor, she primarily defended convictions and sentences against defendants' appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Later, she led her office in overturning a three-judge panel decision in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that had suppressed key evidence in a child exploitation case. After successfully petitioning for the full Court of Appeals to review the three-judge decision, the full Court disagreed with the three-judge ruling and allowed the government use of that evidence. Simonton was recommended to the post by Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. On November 17, 2022, her nomination was reported out of committee by a voice vote. On December 6, 2022, her nomination was confirmed in the Senate by voice vote. She was sworn in by District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn on December 10, 2022.

Accomplishments while U.S. Attorney

Under Simonton's leadership, the U.S. Attorney's Office tried its highest number of cases in over a decade. Simonton actively supervised several high-profile jury trials, including the trial of Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz, an anesthesiologist convicted of injecting heart-stopping drugs into patient IV bags; Christopher Kirchner, the founder of the company Slync, whom a jury convicted of defrauding investors out of more than $25 million; And, last summer, along with the other Texas U.S. Attorneys, she met in Austin with the heads of all Texas regional education service centers to provide important information and resources on fentanyl that they could use in Texas public schools. She prioritized prosecution of violent recidivists and launched Operation Take Aim in the summer of 2023 to further target such offenders. And she partnered with the other Texas U.S. Attorneys and the ATF in the summer of 2024 to launch "Operation Texas Kill Switch," a statewide initiative to combat the illegal use of machine gun conversion devices, also known as "switches." The operation, which included a partnership with CrimeStoppers, raised public awareness of the dangers of switches, generated multiple tips, and resulted in numerous ongoing prosecutions.

The Civil and Appellate Divisions also logged notable successes under Simonton's stewardship. Simonton oversaw the creation and implementation of the district's new Voluntary Self-Disclosure policy, incentivizing companies to quickly detect, disclose, and remediate suspected misconduct, and negotiated settlements in several self-disclosure cases. allowing the Fifth Circuit decision to stand. —charged in the Northern District of Texas—through the Fifth Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court. She supported the Solicitor General's efforts seeking certiorari of the Fifth Circuit's decision invalidating Rahimi's conviction for using a firearm while under a domestic violence protection order. holding press conferences with the other Texas U.S. Attorneys to honor Texas domestic violence victims, and sharing resources with other U.S. Attorney's Offices so they could create their own domestic abuser prosecution programs.