Dena King, the last federal prosecutor in NC to stay on during Trump admin, resigns
Dena King, the first person of color and fourth woman to serve as U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced late Wednesday that it was her last day.
That means all three of North Carolina’s top federal prosecutors have stepped down as President Donald Trump’s administration prepares to fill their roles.
King’s resignation announcement followed resignations of two other federal prosecutors nominated by former President Joe Biden: Michael Easley Jr., and Sandra Hairston, who represented the Eastern District and Middle District, respectively.
U.S. attorneys typically resign when a new president takes office. Trump and Biden’s attorney generals demanded resignations from most of the top prosecutors appointed by the previous administration.
Biden nominated King in September 2021. She was sworn in two months later and, for more than three years, was in charge of federal criminal prosecutions in Western North Carolina, from Charlotte to the Tennessee border. She led nearly 100 federal prosecutors and employees across 32 counties.
During that stint, King said she led the district’s first Civil Rights Team enforcing civil rights laws and prosecuting violations. Her office helped monitor 2022 elections in Mecklenburg, Columbus, Alamance, Harnett and Wayne counties.
She also reconstituted the Health Care Fraud Task Force, which recovered millions for government programs and targeted those who “waste taxpayer dollars,” according a Wednesday news release from King’s office.
“I stand proud of our accomplishments and our efforts to support law enforcement, build strong partnerships with our communities, and uphold justice,” King said in a statement.
Recently, King appeared in court alongside an extortion victim’s family. A mentally disabled Charlotte man committed suicide after a couple allegedly stole his phone at his Chick-fil-A job and went on a three-day barrage of cyberstalking and threatening him and his family.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence J. Cameron is now the acting U.S. attorney in the western district.
Charlotte’s federal prosecutor
King, a South Mecklenburg High School graduate, replaced her former boss, Andrew Murray, as Western North Carolina’s top prosecutor. Under Murray, she was the deputy criminal chief of violent crimes and the lead attorney for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and Narcotics Team.
Before that, she spent six years as a Eastern District assistant federal prosecutor specializing in narcotics cases and coordinated re-entry programs.
She also briefly worked as an Mecklenburg assistant district attorney.
As judgeships recently opened in North Carolina’s U.S. District Courts, those with knowledge of the largely-veiled federal appointment process said King was a top contender to fill one of three vacancies, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Typically, each state’s two senators work with the White House to get judges confirmed by the Senate. But in North Carolina, things have been at a stalemate. GOP Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd said they wouldn’t address the state’s open judgeships until a vacancy in the Fourth U.S. Circuit of Appeals is filled.
Tillis previously told Politico that the Biden administration tried to “jam” him on a Fourth Circuit nominee, and in a statement said he and Budd had “not yet been able to reach a consensus choice with the White House for the Fourth Circuit vacancy.”
King did not announce next steps in her Wednesday statement.
“Being U.S. Attorney is an incredible job,” she said. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to have served in this role and I will always be incredibly thankful for the opportunity.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 12:37 PM.
