The U.S. prosecutor who helped put disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and other high-profile defendants behind bars abruptly announced his resignation Wednesday, NBC News reported. Patrick Fitzgerald, one of the most controversial U.S. attorneys, is stepping down for personal reasons and does not have any plans for new employment, his spokesman told NBC News. He gave the Justice Department no advance notice. "It's been ten and half years. It's a long time," Samborn said. Fitzgerald, 51, was nominated in 2001 by President George W. Bush. He served as special counsel in the investigation that led to the conviction of former Vice President Dick Cheney's one-time chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and led a probe into a classified information leak involving Guantanamo detainees. Attorney General Eric Holder praised Fitzgerald Wednesday as "a prosecutor's prosecutor."
