SAN FRANCISCO — The Arizona U.S. attorney’s office felt the Ninth Circuit’s wrath again on Tuesday in a case that has a line prosecutor in hot water.

A drug smuggling prosecution appealed on a double jeopardy question exposed what the panel in January had called a prosecutor’s “half-truth” told to the trial court in an attempt to save his case. The original opinion cited Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Albert by name, prompting the office to ask the court to snip out the reference.