Uh-oh. Run for cover. The gates swung open today. Run and hide.
The Appellate Court’s ruling reached the same conclusions that would have been raised before Judge Fuller by Hiram Eastland, had he been allowed to address the court before Siegelman and Scrushy were hustled out a side door last summer: There were substantial problems with facts and law. Uh-oh.
Things could unravel and it may have already begun. When the Appellate Court found obvious issues, then why didn’t Judge Fuller allow the defendants to speak? Why was a Federal Judge presiding over a contentious white collar trial by treating the situation like he was adjudicating hard core thugs? And when Alabama Republican Party chairman, Mike Hubbard, says that Siegelman’s release does not, “change a conviction by a jury of his peers,” that is a good question. What about that jury? There were substantial allegations that the jury may well have been tainted, but Judge Fuller didn’t seem interested in finding out the truth. Run and hide. And Hubbard should know well that if a jury was given a trial presentation where there were “substantial problems of fact and law,” then the paradigms the jury was operating under were faulty so that even a conscientious effort could not produce an accurate result. Hubbard could join Fuller in the aftermath, and we could ask them both if either of them care about truth, justice and the constitution, or has their animosity and vindictiveness overwhelmed their rational and professional side so much that they just want to see a man punished and destroyed. Nine months is a long time. Unfortunately, the self-satisfaction enjoyed by his detractors can’t be taken back any more than the time can be given back to Siegemlan.
With the balance beam swinging back a little bit, evened by the added weight of the substantial problems of fact and law, the earnest, dire, pleading statements of the prosecutors–Feaga and Franklin–come into question, the secreted recusal of Leura Canary and the spidery connections that go through William Canary, Bill Pryor, Steve Windom, Bob and Rob Riley, and yes, Karl Rove, all come careening back into view. It is time to run and hide because if Siegelman was THAT dangerous of a voice that he needed to be shafted into prison, then he is now a dangerous voice with a story to tell. And he is free. Uh-oh.
Throughout time and recorded history Truth and Justice have had a way of bubbling to the surface and of finding a way of coming out. Whether or not the indictment, the investigation and the trial were bonafide and righteous, or whether they were motivated by a political agenda, I have said all along that the biggest red flag in this whole affair is the seemingly tireless effort to suppress the true nature of the charges and the investigation. No amount of press releases and declaratives from either side can change the Truth. It is immutable, unchangeable and ought to be a solid rock on which our system of Justice depends. So Judge Fuller’s swift administration of justice on June 28th, 2007, the diesel justice Fuller knew would follow, all the subsequent statements made by prosecutors Feaga and Franklin, the numerous press releases spewed out by the Republican Party, along with the decrees from people like Mike Hubbard, can not change or alter the Truth. For that matter neither can Siegelman’s attorney Vince Kilborn nor Congressman Artur Davis nor Don Siegelman himself. As of this writing, on this day, as Siegelman heads back to Alabama with his wife and daughter, the Truth has already happened and cannot be changed by words, thoughts, actions or emotions. But the complete nature of the problem arises when one side does not seem to care about uncovering the Truth, like finding out the circumstances of Leura Canary’s recusal, or fully investigating the allegations of Jill Simpson, or looking into the obvious problems with squeezed over-his-head witness Nick Bailey, or with investigating the facts behind allegations of a tainted jury, or being concerned with the lingering questions about Judge Fuller’s animosty toward Siegelman, especially with regards to the sentencing and the excessive leeway he seemed to give the prosecutors, or like looking into how Richard Scrushy was surreptitiously inserted into the trial in an effort to parlay public opinion into a conviction. And besides stridently wanting Siegelman out of prison–in light of all of these problems–the other side has steadfastly simply asked for the Truth.
Resolve these problems. Balance the scales. If Mike Hubbard truly cares about the will of a jury of Siegelman’s peers, and if he cares about Justice and the Constitution, then he would willingly join with Siegelman and people on both sides of the aisles, and work to balance the scales; he would welcome the opportunity to present justice–unadulterated facts–to a jury and see what happens.
So happy freedom Don Siegelman. You too Mike Hubbard, Steven Feaga, Bob Riley and Karl Rove.