All the News That's Fit to Share
A bona-fide member of the Fifth Estate, practicing Mobile Journalism (MoJo) every chance we get...
Says if he is Guilty, Governors Like Rick Perry of Texas Could be Jailed Too
See the related story and a longer video at this story link:
Siegelman Says if he is Guilty, Texas Governor Rick Perry Could be Executed
We Will See
 |
The Big Picture
by Glynn Wilson
SOUTHSIDE BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — They say it is a small world, but what do “they” know? I say the cliche is even more true today with modern social networking technology like Facebook.
I was just chatting with a blonde from Germany over my second cup of coffee in the Hippie Tree House, upstairs in the Hippie House on Birmingham’s Southside.
I crashed last night on the new couch in Hippie Stew’s place, and felt right at home. Maybe that’s because I was born five blocks from here in the old South Highlands Hospital, the first hospital Richard Scrushy purchased to create the outpatient and sports medicine empire known as HealthSouth.
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman outside the federal courthouse in Montgomery
by Glynn Wilson
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman says if he is guilty of bribery and corruption for being the fourth governor to appoint HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy to a hospital regulatory board — in his case allegedly in exchange for contributions to an education lottery campaign — then Texas Governor Rick Perry could be “executed” for what he has done in that state.
Mr. Siegelman made the comment after a hearing on Wednesday requesting more information from the federal government to form the basis of an evidence gathering proceeding that could lead to a new trial for himself and Scrushy.
“If they can put me in prison for nine months for being the fourth governor to reappoint Richard Scrushy, they ought to be able to execute Rick Perry for what he did in Texas,” Siegelman said (see video below).
“There is a standard of justice that should apply across the board and I think the United States Supreme Court will see that and will apply the rule of law in this case,” Siegelman said, talking to the media in front of the federal courthouse in Montgomery after a three hour hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody. “Rick Perry would be in prison today if this were the standard.”
Lori and Don Siegelman stand together outside the federal courthouse in Montgomery, Alabama, after a hearing on alleged “selective prosecution” and “judicial misconduct” in his case that traces its roots back to the late 1990s, when political operative Karl Rove was making a name for himself in the campaign world in Alabama.
by Glynn Wilson
 |
| Glynn Wilson |
| Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman in front of the federal courthouse in Montgomery on a break from his sentencing hearing in June, 2007. |
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman will be back in federal court in Montgomery again Wednesday, this time making an oral argument before a different federal judge asking for a chance to be heard on issues related to “selective prosecution” and “government misconduct” in the handling of his case.
In an exclusive interview Tuesday morning, Siegelman, a Democrat, told me his attorneys will be making an argument that former U.S. Attorney Leura Canary — the wife of Bill Canary, head of the conservative Business Council of Alabama — had a partisan conflict of interest in bringing the alleged bribery and corruption case against him.
They will be revealing documentary evidence that Ms. Canary never actually recused herself from the case, he said, an issue we have reported on extensively in the past. She recused herself on the pages of the Birmingham News, but never actually filed a formal recusal document with the court, and e-mail messages show she was involved in directing the prosecution team even after she claimed to recuse herself.
Evidence will also be presented about judicial misconduct on the part of Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Fuller, who handled the case against Siegelman. Because of that, Siegelman said, Fuller will not be hearing the evidence on Wednesday. Instead, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody will be presiding.
 |
| Glynn Wilson |
| Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman in front of the federal courthouse in Montgomery |
by Glynn Wilson
A federal appeals court panel threw out two more counts in the bribery conviction of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy on Tuesday, according to a decision just posted on the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Website.
The court let stand five counts against Siegelman and four counts against Scrushy, however. While the two dropped counts will reduce the length of Scrushy’s sentence, Siegelman could still face re-sentencing, if his other legal maneuvers fail.
After reconsidering its previous decision on the order of the U.S. Supreme Court in light of a high court ruling questioning the use of honest services mail fraud in federal prosecutions, the three judge panel agreed there was not enough evidence of a quid pro quo to uphold the larger bribery conviction alleged by federal prosecutors.
U.S. attorneys in Montgomery obtained a conviction in the case largely based on a payment Scrushy made to help pay off a debt for an education lottery campaign, allegedly in exchange for a seat on the state’s hospital regulatory board.
President Barack Obama nominated George L. Beck to Replace Laura Canary as U.S. Attorney in Montgomery today, according to an announcement from the White House.
“For his diligence and relentless pursuit of justice, I have named George L. Beck to serve as a U.S. Attorney,” President Obama said in a statement. “I am confident he will serve the people of Alabama with distinction.”
According to the backgrounder put out by the White House, Beck has been a shareholder of Capell and Howard, P.C. since 2004. He was a sole practitioner from 1986 to 2003 and from 1979 to 1982, and was a partner at Baxley, Beck, Dillard & Dauphin from 1982 to 1986. From 1971 to 1979, he served as Deputy Attorney General for the State of Alabama.
Prior to that, Mr. Beck worked as an associate at St. John and St. John from 1966 to 1971.
“Mr. Beck has served our country honorably, enlisting in the Alabama Army National Guard in 1966 and rising through the ranks to be honorably discharged as a Colonel in 2001,” the president said.
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman outside the U.S. Court of Appeals building in downtown Atlanta.
by Glynn Wilson
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman will be back in court again on Wednesday, Jan. 19, this time before the same panel of Republican-appointed justices on the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who upheld parts of his conviction in Atlanta two years ago.
But due to the age of the justices and the warmer climate closer to where two of them live, Siegelman said in a telephone interview this weekend, the next round of Siegelman’s appeal will be heard in Jacksonville, Florida.
The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the convictions of Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy back in June of last year and ordered the appeals court to review them again, in light of a recent high court ruling questioning the application of a vague honest services fraud law in the case of former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling.
“I believe that the U S Supreme Court vacated the earlier ruling of the Eleventh Circuit and sent my case back because the court wants a different result,” Siegelman said. “That’s good news for me.”
Harper’s No Comment
