Crusading Christian DA resigns after being accused of trading light sentences for sex with defendants

A Christian prosecutor who regularly boasted of waging culture wars against liberals resigned this week amid allegations that he gave women drug dealers lighter sentences in exchange for sexual favors.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Bedford County District Attorney William Higgins stepped down from his position after he was charged by a grand jury of offering female convicts leniency if they met his sexual demands.

Per the Post-Gazette, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office charged Higgins with "obstructing administration of law or other governmental function, official oppression, recklessly endangering another person, intimidation of witnesses or victims and hindering apprehension or prosecution."

"District Attorney Higgins traded his power and law enforcement authority for sexual favors and violated his oath to the people of Bedford County — compromising the security of his community and the safety of confidential informants,” state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement on the grand jury indictment.

As Patheos notes, Higgins in the past has not been shy about being a pro-Christian culture warrior, and has in the past boasted about being attacked by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I guess I should take solace in the fact that the liberals are mad at me - again," he said in 2014 regarding the case of a 14-year-old accused of desecrating a statue of Jesus. "If that tends to upset the 'anti-Christian, ban-school-prayer, war-on-Christmas, oppose-display-of-Ten-Commandments' crowd, I make no apologies."