Jul 31, 2004 By: Natasha Korecki Chicago Sun-Times (IL)

Federal prosecutors dropped charges against the sons of Cook County Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue on Friday, saying the federal agent they’re accused of assaulting was not acting in an official role at the time a brawl erupted outside a Chicago nightspot.

Edmund R. Donoghue III, 25, and Michael Donoghue, 20, were charged last month with assaulting a federal officer in a 3 a.m. fight outside the Beaumont Bar on the 2000 block of North Halsted.

That federal charge now has been dropped, but still pending are state charges of aggravated battery to a police officer.

On Friday, federal prosecutors said the only way that federal charge could stick in this instance was if the federal agent, who was visiting Chicago from Boston, was acting in an official capacity.

“Federal prosecution is not warranted under these circumstances,” said Randall Samborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. “We’ve determined the agent was not acting in the course of his official duties, as the federal statute requires.”

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