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MIAMI -- An assistant state attorney accused of using his prosecution of an assault case against Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor to promote his work as a nightclub disc jockey resigned Wednesday.

	Taylor

The Miami-Dade state attorney's office confirmed that Michael Grieco, who stepped aside as the lead prosecutor in the case in early April because of the accusations, had resigned.

In a resignation letter he said that "recent developments coupled with previous family concerns have severely affected his ability to perform at a level he is comfortable with," said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney's office.

Grieco left the Taylor case after Taylor's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said he would seek dismissal of the charges because of "inappropriate and unethical" prosecutorial conduct by Grieco. Grieco had posted news articles about the Taylor case on a Web site that promotes his side business as a DJ in Miami Beach clubs.

Grieco's boss, Miami-Dade state attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, had released a statement saying Grieco asked to be replaced because "he sees himself becoming the courtroom focus, rather than the individual charged with the criminal offense."

Taylor's trial is scheduled for May 8. He faces a minimum of three years in prison on each of three aggravated assault charges stemming from a June 1 armed confrontation in a Miami neighborhood.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press