U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall has left her duties as Oregon's top federal prosecutor for an indeterminate time.
Marshall's immediate subordinate, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams, began to sign legal documents Wednesday that named him acting U.S. attorney.
"I've been having health issues for months," Marshall told The Oregonian on Thursday. "I can't serve right now."
Marshall, an Obama appointee, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September 2011 and began her tenure as U.S. attorney that Oct. 7.
From her corner office on the sixth floor of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, she supervised more than 100 lawyers in Portland, Eugene and Medford. On her watch, the office has placed special emphasis on protection of children, including record prosecutions for child sex trafficking.
Williams declined to answer questions about Marshall's departure, other than to say, "I don't have any comment about her being on leave."
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden picked Marshall as a finalist for the U.S. attorney job after what has been described as an exhaustive search to replace Karin Immergut, who in 2009 left to become a judge in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
"The senator wishes (Marshall) and her family the best and hopes that her health concerns are not serious," Wyden spokesman Hank Stern said Thursday evening.
Dwight C. Holton served as interim U.S. attorney and later mounted an unsuccessful run for the Oregon Attorney General's Office.
Marshall, 45, declined to disclose her health problem other than to say she was seeing a specialist out of state.
"I just need to take care of myself," she said.
-- Bryan Denson
503-294-7614; @Bryan_Denson