The state worker who leaked thousands of former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's emails to the press won't be charged with a crime.
IT manager Michael Rodgers turned over emails to the Willamette Week newspaper when Kitzhaber aides seemed to suggest they should be deleted from state servers. The Marion County District Attorney's office said Wednesday that justice would not be served by filing criminal charges against Rodgers.
But at the same time, the prosecutors said that in their opinion, Rodgers did violate state law when he leaked emails to the press. They said Rodgers appeared to act outside of the proper process of disseminating potentially sensitive information.
The messages included ones sent to and from Kitzhaber's personal email address. Kitzhaber resigned in February amid a criminal ethics investigation.