Iowa won't help federal prosecutors seeking death penalty for Iowa woman

The Iowa Attorney General's office won't help federal prosecutors in their second attempt to seek the death penalty against a woman convicted in the 1993 slayings of five people in northern Iowa.

Assistant Attorney General Thomas H. Miller worked with the U.S. attorney's office to prosecute Angela Johnson in 2005, when she was convicted in the drug-related killings of three adults and two children and sentenced to death.

A judge in March threw out Johnson's death sentence after finding flaws with her original hearing. Rather than appeal or convert Johnson's sentence to life in prison, federal prosecutors decided to again seek the death penalty at a new sentencing hearing next year.

Miller withdrew from the case Tuesday. A spokesman says Iowa prosecutors are no longer involved but wouldn't say why.