(MOBILE, Ala.). April 8 -- Former Assistant District Attorney Steve Giardini resigned Sunday after his home was searched Saturday by federal agents. The search warrant explains why the search was necessary. A federal judge sealed it, which means the public can not view it.
Criminal defense attorney Dom Soto is not associated with the case but has plenty of experience defending clients in federal court. He says sealing the search warrant is not out of the ordinary.
"I know its normal practice to seal it pending an indictment. Once someone is arrested, than it gets unsealed," said Soto.
Soto says federal prosecutors take their time to prepare a case before presenting it to a grand jury. Soto says, in this case, it may be even longer before any evidence is presented to a grand jury because according to NBC 15 sources federal agents seized Giardini's computer.
"They analyze it, not necessarily here, probably in Virginia. So that takes a long time. The last case I had involving a computer, it took almost after for that computer to be looked at," said Soto.
Giardini once specialized in prosecuting sex crimes against minors. NBC 15 sources say Giardini was having sexual conversations with who he thought was a teen aged girl. Sources say he was actually communicating with an undercover agent. Sources also say the FBI recorded conversations between the two.
