SALEM -- A day after Gov. Kate Brown said it wouldn't be "in the public interest" to prosecute the state data manager who leaked thousands of former Gov. John Kitzhaber's private emails, two county district attorneys announced Wednesday that they wouldn't file charges.

Tossing another remarkable twist in what's been a months-long political saga, Marion County District Attorney Walt Beglau and Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry said the employee, Michael Rodgers, clearly broke the law by leaking Kitzhaber's emails to a Portland alternative weekly. But they also found he did so to protect vital information in the public interest.

"After fully assessing all the facts in this investigation, DA Walt Beglau and DA Brad Berry have formed the opinion that Michael Rodgers violated the law," the statement reads. "In doing so, he exceeded his authority as a public servant and acted independently outside of any governmental processes in place to ensure the proper dissemination of potentially sensitive information.

"Under the totality of the circumstances in this case and after a thorough review of the above factors," the statement continues, "the mutual decision of these two District Attorneys is that justice would not be served by filing criminal charges against Mr. Rodgers."

According to findings of an Oregon State Police investigation detailed in the statement, then-Chief Administrative Officer Michael Jordan ordered Rodgers to copy thousands of Kitzhaber's private emails onto two thumb drives that would then be delivered to the governor's office for review.

Jordan's order to produce the copies came in an email on Feb. 5, less than two weeks before Kitzhaber resigned amid influence-peddling accusations that have led to criminal investigations of the former governor and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes. Jordan resigned effective April 1.

After a low-level technician carried out the order, Rodgers made two more copies of the emails -- this time on two personal thumb drives -- and then handed them over to Willamette Week.

The leaked emails revealed Kitzhaber's political and legal strategies, and Hayes' quest for publicity, including hopes of landing lucrative contracts and a book deal someday.

The emails were among those subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, which sought them from the state as part of its public-corruption investigation of Kitzhaber and Hayes. Kitzhaber's attorney later sought a court order to block the state from giving the emails to federal investigators.

Rodgers told Willamette Week he worried Kitzhaber's administration was trying to delete the emails, many of which needed to be kept under Oregon's public records law. Rodgers said one of the governor's friends and staffers, Jan Murdock, had already asked to have copies of the emails deleted -- prompting Rodgers to flag his bosses.

Kitzhaber's office first discovered the state had been storing emails from his private accounts after receiving a Feb. 2 records request from The Oregonian/OregonLive seeking some of that correspondence.

On Wednesday, the district attorneys said Rodgers should have known the emails were merely copied -- not deleted -- from the state server.

"In fact, it would have been virtually impossible to accomplish such a task as the state server is backed-up as a matter of protection in two separate locations," prosecutors said. "Rodgers should have been aware of these back-up measures as the Administrator of the State's Technology Services."

The Oregonian/OregonLive wasn't able to immediately obtain the raw findings of the Oregon State Police investigation Wednesday night; a message to the department was not returned.

"They have their conclusion," Rodgers' attorney, Michael Levine, said when asked about the prosecutors' assertion that his client broke the law.

"Whatever the case, they've decided justice would not be served by not prosecuting him. We're satisfied with that result."

If Rodgers had been prosecuted, he would have faced several counts of second-degree official misconduct, a Class C misdemeanor, the prosecutors said. Each count is punishable by up to a month in jail and a $1,250 fine. They said that charge would have fit better than first-degree official misconduct because Rodgers' actions showed "no intent to gain a personal benefit."

Brown's communications director, Kristen Grainger, said the governor's senior staff hadn't seen the announcement until receiving a copy from The Oregonian/OregonLive. On Tuesday, Brown had urged against charging Rodgers but said the decision wasn't hers to make.

"We appreciate that the DA has reached the conclusion that justice would not be served by pursuing multiple counts of official misconduct against Mr. Rodgers," Grainger said.

Rodgers still faces a separate personnel investigation connected to an incident that sources say wasn't initiated in response to the leak. Rodgers and Marshall Wells, another data manager, were placed on paid leave in February. Rodgers, a 15-year state employee, earns $143,000 a year.

Jordan, the former DAS administrator, had previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the two were placed on leave primarily to combat a situation he felt was "out of control" -- including an apparently unauthorized move by one of them to seize computers and cell phones from Kitzhaber's staff as evidence for the federal probe.

It was unclear Wednesday whether that investigation had been expanded to include the leaks after Rodgers revealed himself publicly in Willamette Week or whether it might yet be, in light of the findings from Meglau and Berry.

In calling for Rodgers not to be charged, Brown also made clear that "a data breach is a data breach" and reminded state employees that they can take other steps as whistleblowers before handing documents to the media.

Grainger said she couldn't comment on the details of a personnel investigation but said Brown wouldn't intervene.

"The governor's going to let the process continue to its natural conclusion," Grainger said Wednesday.

Nick Budnick of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report.

-- Ian K. Kullgren and Denis C. Theriault

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