"If not now, when" asked Craig Silverman, a former Denver chief deputy district attorney now in private practice.

WSJ: Holmes to Face Death Penalty in Colorado Shooting

He was chosen as special prosecutor last August by Deputy Chief Administration Judge Fern Fisher after Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes recused himself because Lopez, as Brooklyn Democratic chairman, supported Hynes politically.

WSJ: Prosecutor was GOP pick for NY attorney general

In Monday's attack, an Afghan police officer stood up in the back of a police pickup truck, grabbed a machine gun and started firing at the U.S. special operations forces and Afghan policemen in the police compound in Jalrez district, said the province's Deputy Police Chief Abdul Razaq Koraishi.

NPR: Insider Attack Kills 2 US Troops, 2 Afghans