Gretchen Shappert

{{short description|American lawyer}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Gretchen Shappert

|image = Gretchen Shappert US Attorney.jpg

|office1 = United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands

|president1 = Donald Trump
Joe Biden

|term_start1 = April 23, 2018

|term_end1 = May 03, 2022

|predecessor1 = Ronald W. Sharpe

|successor1 = Delia L. Smith

|office2 = United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina

|president2 = George W. Bush

|term_start2 = 2004

|term_end2 = 2009

|predecessor2 = Robert J. Conrad

|successor2 = Anne Tompkins

|birth_name =

|birth_place = United States

|birth_date =

|death_place =

|party = Republican

|spouse =

|relations =

|children =

|education = {{nowrap|Duke University
Washington and Lee Law School}}

|awards =

}}

Gretchen C. F. Shappert is an attorney. She has served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina from 2004 to 2009 and the United States Attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands from 2018 to 2022.

Shappert passed the North Carolina bar in 1980. She graduated from Duke University in 1977, and from Washington and Lee Law School. She was in private practice and was an assistant district attorney and an assistant public defender in Charlotte before becoming a federal prosecutor.

Shappert stressed tough prosecution of drug offenders while in office.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityofgastonia.com/city_serv/police/_pdf%20files/WATSON.pdf |title=article on Shappert's plans for full prosecution of drug offenders |access-date=2009-10-31 |archive-date=2011-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708160947/http://www.cityofgastonia.com/city_serv/police/_pdf%20files/WATSON.pdf |url-status=dead }} Shappert also served as chair of the Justice Department's subcommittee on Native American issues.[http://indian.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Testimony&Hearing_ID=a0fd16ca-23f2-4075-a044-196378eec19f&Witness_ID=c1ed6436-28af-41c7-894b-d90db72df000 Report on Native American affairs] Shappert also opposed retroactively lessening prison sentences related to crack-cocaine.{{cite web|title=Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Crack/Powder Cocaine Disparity Issue|publisher= Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority|url=http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/index.cfm?metasection=Publications&metapage=CJN_cocdisp032708&printerfriendly|access-date=March 5, 2022|archive-date=October 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002081349/http://www.icjia.state.il.us/public/index.cfm?metasection=Publications&metapage=CJN_cocdisp032708&printerfriendly|url-status=dead}}

Shappert resigned as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina in March 2009. In addition to prosecuting serious drug offenses, Shappert is also keenly interested in anti-terrorism efforts. Shappert recently published an article about Attorney General Amos Akerman's leadership in prosecuting the Ku Klux Klan immediately after the civil war in what Shappert describes as "the worst outbreak of domestic violence in American history to date."[https://www.justice.gov/usao/page/file/1243216/download Shappert, Gretchen C. F., "Fighting Domestic Terrorism and Creating the Department of Justice: The Extraordinary Leadership of Attorney General Amos T. Akerman." DOJ Journal of Federal Law and Practice, January 2020]

Shappert has also co-authored an article on the Crime Fraud Exception to the Attorney-Client Privilege. DOJ Journal of Federal Law and Practice, May 2021 [https://www.justice.gov/usao/page/file/1403671/download]

Shappert became the Court-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Virgin Islands on April 23, 2018.{{Cite press release |title=United States Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert takes the Oath as the Court-appointed United States Attorney for the Virgin Islands |date=April 23, 2018 |publisher=U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Virgin Islands |location=Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-vi/pr/united-states-attorney-gretchen-cf-shappert-takes-oath-court-appointed-united-states |access-date=July 20, 2021}} On February 8, 2021, she along with 55 other Trump-era attorneys were asked to resign.{{Cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/justice-dept-seeks-resignations-of-trump-era-us-attorneys/2021/02/08/f5b71648-6a88-11eb-a66e-e27046e9e898_story.html |title=Justice Dept. seeks resignations of Trump-era US attorneys |first=Michael |last=Balsamo |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 9, 2021 |accessdate=February 11, 2021 |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209142507/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/justice-dept-seeks-resignations-of-trump-era-us-attorneys/2021/02/08/f5b71648-6a88-11eb-a66e-e27046e9e898_story.html |url-status=dead }} She has not resigned as of December 31, 2021. On September 28, 2021, Joe Biden nominated Assistant U.S. Attorney Delia Smith to serve as the U.S. Attorney.{{cite news|last=Carlson|first=Suzanne|title= New U.S. Attorney's confirmation expected soon|newspaper=Virgin Islands Daily News|date=December 31, 2021|url=http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/new-u-s-attorneys-confirmation-expected-soon/article_2f7d12a2-c854-5f66-a721-4e620178dea0.html}}