Marc Krickbaum lost the last case he tried.

It was a murder trial in Chicago. A 14-year-old girl shot and killed another 14-year-old girl in a fight after school, and Krickbaum, then an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, charged an adult relative with handing the shooter the gun and urging her to use it.

The verdict was not guilty.

Still, Krickbaum said, he's proud to have taken that case, which he said demonstrates the philosophy that has guided him since he was sworn in as the top federal prosecutor for the southern district of Iowa in October.

"We can’t be focused on wins and losses," he said. "We have to be focused on charging those cases that are right to charge, even if we know it’s going to be tough."

Krickbaum, who is one of the Register’s People to Watch in 2018, oversees about 50 employees, including 20 attorneys, whose jurisdiction covers 47 counties in Iowa, including Polk, Johnson, Scott and Story. Iowa's other U.S. attorney, Peter Deegan Jr. in the northern district, also began work this fall.

Julie Porter, a former chief of the criminal division at the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago who supervised Krickbaum for part of his time there, praised him for not shying away from the gun case out of fear he could lose.

Related coverage:Learn more about current and previous People To Watch

"They help us remember that winning is not the point for a prosecutor," she said. "The point for a prosecutor is to participate in the process with integrity and to do one’s very best to present the best and most authentic case possible."

'The smartest guy in the room, but never thinks that'

At various points in his career, Krickbaum has worked on cases involving counterterrorism, cyber crime, fraud, public corruption and human trafficking. All of that experience comes in handy in his new job, he says.

Nominated by President Donald Trump and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate earlier this year, Krickbaum, 38, now has a job that puts him in a key position to tackle Des Moines' spike in homicides, cyber crimes that have shut down Iowa school districts, the national opioid epidemic, Iowa's ongoing meth problem, and human trafficking and child exploitation cases that too often fly under the radar.

Former colleagues praised Krickbaum's low-key demeanor and his wealth of experience. Born in Omaha, he has worked in the deputy attorney general's office in Washington, D.C., served two stints as a federal prosecutor in Chicago and spent four years prosecuting cases in Des Moines at the office he now leads.

"He’s the kind of guy where, anytime he is put on a case, it gives great confidence to everyone who is involved, from the witnesses to the other attorneys to the case agents," Porter said.

"He's usually the smartest guy in the room, but never thinks that," said Zach Fardon, a former U.S. attorney in Chicago whom Krickbaum worked for.

That humility will serve him well when interacting with his fellow attorneys, as well as with law enforcement, with whom Krickbaum will need to develop a close relationship.

Krickbaum sees law enforcement as partners, not subordinates, and takes the time to solicit their opinions and explain himself when making decisions on a case, said Mark Betten, a retired FBI agent who worked closely with Krickbaum for two years.

"He’s very easy to get along with," Betten said. "He understands law enforcement, he can relate well to them."

Betten and Krickbaum worked together on a high-profile case where a Chinese national was accused of conspiring to send stolen DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto corn seed to China so their genetically engineered traits could be reproduced. Krickbaum was not the lead prosecutor, but he worked with Betten, the lead agent, almost daily for two years.

Mo Hailong is now serving a three-year prison sentence in North Carolina.

'Bread and butter cases'

Krickbaum said his focus as U.S. attorney is on "bread and butter cases that actually affect people in this community."

VIOLENT CRIME: "We are lucky in Iowa that we live in relatively safe communities compared to a lot of our neighboring states, but the trend is still troubling that a lot of those numbers are going up," Krickbaum said.

Des Moines has seen 24 homicides this year, up from 13 in 2016. Local authorities like the Polk County Attorney's Office take the lead in prosecuting those cases, but Krickbaum's office can bring important resources and a range of federal charges.

"Virtually any gun crime has the potential to be a federal crime," Krickbaum said.

By going after guns, or by building drug trafficking or racketeering cases, prosecutors can go after gangs and criminal organizations that are operating in Iowa, he said.

OPIOIDS: The deaths of at least 124 Iowans this year can be attributed to the opioid epidemic, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. In Des Moines alone, first responders have administered over 202 doses of Narcan, a drug used to reverse an opioid overdose.

One strategy Krickbaum said prosecutors and law enforcement are following is to treat overdoses and overdose deaths as criminal cases.

"That is a crime scene, and we are going to target the suppliers and the suppliers' suppliers and work as far back as we can," Krickbaum said.

CYBER THREATS: This fall, anonymous online threats temporarily shut down schools in several districts around the state, including in Johnston, Algona and Washington. Police later determined the threats were not credible.

"I would predict that the trend there is only going to be going up, and those cases are very hard to investigate," Krickbaum said.

One case where Krickbaum's office did bring charges involved a former University of Iowa student who hacked into the university's network and copied his professors' login credentials, obtaining exams in advance and changing his grades more than 90 times.

"That’s obviously a different scale than people who are shutting down public school systems or stealing from pension funds, but it’s an example of the FBI’s ability to investigate those cases," Krickbaum said.

'I'm not a politician'

When U.S. attorneys have made the news this year, they have often been seeking political office, like Senator-elect Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney from Alabama, or the subject of political speculation, as with Preet Bharara, the fired U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York. But Krickbaum flatly ruled out a future in politics when asked.

"No," he said. "I’m a prosecutor. I’m not a politician."

Krickbaum sees politics as irrelevant to his work as a prosecutor — an attitude that fit in well in Chicago.

"I don’t know, candidly, what his politics are," Fardon said of Krickbaum. "I don’t care."

Although overseeing a large and busy office takes up the majority of Krickbaum's time these days, he says he misses his time as a line prosecutor trying cases in the courtroom. And it's still something he intends to do from time to time.

"I can’t do it as much, but it is a part of this job that I absolutely love," he said, "so I’ll be in there."

Marc Krickbaum

AGE: 38

LIVES: Des Moines

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, University of Iowa, 2001; law degree, Harvard Law, 2006

CAREER: Sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa on Oct. 2, 2017; assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago from 2016-17; assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa in Des Moines from 2013-16; assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago from 2009-13; counsel to the deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. from 2008-09; clerked for Judge Mark Filip of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2007-08; clerked for Judge Steven M. Colloton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 2006-07

FAMILY: Wife: Katherine Krickbaum; daughter: Frances Krickbaum

15 People to Watch in 2018: About the Series

These are central Iowans in business, arts, nonprofits, civic activism and unelected government positions who are expected to make a difference in their fields of endeavor in 2017. Readers were invited to submit nominations. Selections were made by Des Moines Register editors and reporters. Look for profiles through early January.