Birmingham, AL – President Obama is nominating a longtime federal prosecutor to serve as the U.S. attorney in Birmingham.
The White House said Friday it had tapped 48-year-old Joyce Vance to take over for Republican appointee Alice Martin.
Vance has served as chief of the appellate division of Martin's office since 2002. Before that, she was an assistant U.S. attorney.
Vance worked on the investigation of Eric Rudolph after the deadly bombing of a Birmingham abortion clinic. She also was involved in the investigation of a string of church fires in the district.
Vance is the daughter-in-law of the late U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Vance, who was killed in a mail bombing at his Mountain Brook home in 1989.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)