SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — An award-winning California prosecutor campaigning to become a judge has been fired from his job after an internal investigation into the withholding of evidence in a murder case.

The Orange County Register reports Thursday that Senior Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh no longer works for the county prosecutor's office. Orange County District Todd Spitzer says he hired a law firm to look into whether a prosecutor failed to turn over evidence in the case of a man convicted in 2010. Baytieh was the prosecutor on that case.

He was named “Prosecutor of the Year” in 2012 by the California District Attorneys Association.