Paul G. Cassell is an American legal scholar, former federal judge, and prominent victims' rights advocate. After clerking for Chief Justice Warren Burger, he served as a federal prosecutor and then as a U.S. District Judge for Utah (2002-2007) before resigning to return to academia. As a professor of law at the University of Utah, Cassell became nationally recognized for pioneering litigation under the Crime Victims' Rights Act.

Cassell partnered with Brad Edwards to represent Jeffrey Epstein's victims, directly challenging the DOJ's 2007 secret non-prosecution agreement. They co-filed Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 v. United States (2008-2019), alleging prosecutors violated the CVRA by excluding Epstein's victims from the plea deal process. The litigation spanned over a decade, during which Cassell and Edwards filed extensive documentation establishing the scope of Epstein's crimes and the government's failure to notify victims. In February 2019, Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that victims' rights were indeed violated, though the NPA remained intact.

Cassell's filings helped force disclosure of NPA negotiation details and highlighted how the agreement immunized Epstein's "potential co-conspirators." His work demonstrated how federal prosecutors can violate statutory rights of crime victims when protecting powerful defendants.

Sources

Jane Doe v. United States filings; Miami Herald, New York Times, Lawfare citations