Eid was elected editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Stanford Daily, and met his future wife, Allison Hartwell, while standing in line at a dorm cafeteria, where she was working as a food-service worker.
[4] Within days of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, Eid was chosen to head an independent commission reviewing the Jefferson County law enforcement response.
[3] Owens described Eid as a model of integrity and uprightness while serving on the cabinet, and said of his work during that time, "It's a trial by fire, and when you survive it, typically it means you're going to be a very good lawyer.
[8] Eid denied that his withdrawal had anything to do with Jack Abramoff, who had recently been fired from Greenberg Traurig and who was later sentenced to serve five years and ten months in prison on numerous fraud convictions.
When the White House asked for three more names, Senator Wayne Allard recommended only William Leone,[6] who had been serving as acting U.S. Attorney since January 1, 2005.
[6] White House officials did not consider any other candidates besides Eid,[8] who suspended his campaign for the University of Colorado Board of Regents in order to accept the U.S. Attorney position.
He served as Colorado's chief federal criminal prosecutor and represented the United States in civil cases where the government was party to a lawsuit.
[2] In August 2008, Eid charged Marc Garold Ramsey, 39, for sending a threatening letter with a white powdery substance to 2008 Republican Party presidential nominee Senator John McCain.
[12] At an August 26 press conference, Eid dismissed the trio as drug addicts and said the "meth heads were not a true threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention or the people of Colorado.
Eid's pilot program gained the attention of Senator Byron L. Dorgan, who praised it as a national success story in strengthening criminal justice in Indian Country and used it as the model for the bill's expanded training provisions.
Among the cases Eid inherited from his predecessor, acting U.S. Attorney Bill Leone, was the ongoing prosecution of Joseph Nacchio, the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Qwest Communications International indicted on 42 counts of insider trading.
"[18] Nacchio appealed the verdict, arguing that then-federal Judge Edward Nottingham had improperly excluded a defense witness from offering expert evidence during the trial.
[22] Beginning in 2007, Eid oversaw the nationally recognized Operation Central, a successful joint U.S.-Mexican prosecution of criminal trafficking in endangered sea turtles.
A three-year international investigation led to multiple arrests on charges of smuggling the skins of endangered sea turtles and other protected animals for use in making boots, belts and wallets.
The award was presented by Willem Wijnstekers, Secretary-General of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
[citation needed] Operation Central was the largest probe ever of the unlawful commercial exploitation of highly endangered sea turtles – all of which are listed under Appendix I of CITES which bans international trade.
The investigation also documented the role of U.S. retailers in the unlawful commercial exploitation of other CITES-listed species (including caimans and lizards) in the exotic boot trade.
In response, Eid dropped plans to run for attorney general, describing Suthers as one of his close friends and claiming, "Challenging John is not part of my equation.
[citation needed] Eid wrote the article "Strategic Democracy-Building: How U.S. States Can Help" for The Washington Quarterly magazine,[3] anthologized in the 2003 book, Winning Hearts and Minds: Using Soft Power to Undermine Terrorist Networks.
"[4] Eid and one of his former students at CU Law School, Carrie Covington Doyle, co-authored an article concluding that the federal criminal justice system in Indian Country illegally discriminates against the rights of Native Americans in violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.