Political Expediency for a Political Prosecution

Once a week or so, I make a scan of the latest articles on the Siegelman-Scrushy situation. And then I go on to look at the most recent editorials and make a quick check to see if there is any movement in the involved Federal Courts. And in making this sweep, I’ll usually take a [...]

Fix It

Words matter. I heard Art Leach say that one time in open court, in defense of his client. And they do. As much as the public would rather have a smoking gun and bloody fingerprints, the trials of Richard Scrushy and Donald Siegelman were never so easy. Observers from various quarters of the public have [...]

Siegelman-Scrushy Appeal: The View from the Gallery

The shouting has barely died down from the election of Barack Obama—whether it has come from the noisy rounds of tears, or teeth-gnashing or cheers or sobs—when in a quiet courtroom in downtown Atlanta, three judges sat to hear thirty-minutes of oral arguments in the matter of the United States of America v. Scrushy and [...]

Some thoughts (and a little bit queasy)

By now, I am semi-retired from this thing and certainly not within anyone’s loop anymore. But if a reader should happen across these pages, a couple of thoughts remain.
The Scott McClellan book has Siegelman implications. For the people who subscribe to wide-ranging conspiracies that encompass the highest level of our government, and for those who [...]

The Advice of Artur Davis: Siegelman Stay Home

Congressman Artur Davis has said that the House Democrat’s request for the recently freed Don Siegelman to testify in front of Congress is ill-advised, and that he would strongly advise Siegelman against making this trip to Washington. In published reports, the Congressman was quoted as saying it would be “extremely unwise” for Siegelman to appear [...]

Uh-oh. The Gates Swing Open

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 [...]

New Reflections on the Remarkable Mind of Nick Bailey

On a warm afternoon in May, near the beginning of a long white-collar trial, Richard Scrushy’s lead attorney, Art Leach, began probing the nature of the government’s investigation, as it related to the man who was on the stand, the prosecution’s star-witness, Nick Bailey. White collar cases can be tedious because there is no dramatic [...]

Channel Surfing

Click…Click…Click…Ralph Reed
When the political season finally went into full swing with the early primaries, a figure who is well known in Alabama turned up as a political analyst on CNN. One-time Executive Director of the College Republican National Committee, One-time religious organizer, one-time political operative, one-time partner of Jack Abramoff, one-time candidate for Lieutenant Governor [...]

The Trap: Words and Validation

Confidence. Self-reliance. Righteousness. Justice. Morality.
These traits are not acquired by shouting the loudest, by self-proclamation, by streams of self-laudatory words. They are self-evident by their very nature. The American system of justice is a sacred cornerstone of our democracy and it needs no words or oratory to prop it up. The people who walk [...]

An Emergency in Alabama

It is the day after Veterans Day, a holiday originally set aside to commemorate the end of World War I, but was later generalized to honor all veterans who have served our country. Because it fell on Sunday, the banks, some schools and the delivery of the US Mail are shut down today. Courts too. [...]

It is better to be on top of the mountain than underneath it

Under the long shadow of a years-ago recusal of the US Attorney from the Middle District of Alabama, and just days away from the commencement of a Congressional hearing, Louis Franklin has yet again stepped up to defend and explain the integrity of his District. Almost two years since the indictment was unsealed, over a [...]

The Absurdity of Deceit and the Comfort of Truth

It would seem that even the most ardent hope-he-rots-in-prison Siegelman haters would want the clouds and fog that hover over the government’s investigation to be lifted. If everything was put on the table and it turned out that it was a righteous prosecution that was the end result of a forthright investigation, they could claim [...]

The Kitchen Sink and Karl Rove

Although his exact whereabouts are currently unknown and although he has a growing stake in events unfolding in Alabama, it is highly unlikely that Karl Rove’s fingerprints will be found at the scene or that his DNA will be found in the blood spattered aftermath; but recent revelations and allegations reported by the Birmingham News [...]

Who Is Obstructing Whom?

The marketing of Nick Bailey hasn’t gone so well for the DOJ’s Middle District of Alabama, so now the First Amendment is breaking out all over the place, and it is galling the prosecutors in Montgomery. The recent furtive actions of the DOJ prosecutors show that they are desperately racing against time to sell this [...]

The Marketing of Nick Bailey

He’s the son of a County Democratic Party Chairman, he has a degree in finance, he was once the driver for Don Siegelman and later became his aide and advisor. And now, Nick Bailey has become a hot commodity, a figure who needs to be marketed and sold in order to justify a case that [...]

Response to the Middle District of Alabama’s Response to Errors in Siegelman/Scrushy National News Accounts

About a week ago, DOJ’s Middle District of Alabama released a remarkable memorandum that refutes various allegations made by Siegelman and his supporters, and reported by the press. The document is both odd and amazing for at least a couple of reasons. First, the prosecutors of the Middle District of Alabama investigated a case, secured [...]

Don Siegelman’s Odyssey

According to the BOP website, Don Siegelman’s current residence is in Oklahoma City, OK.
Still on the move: His odyssey may have begun when he had the audacity to win the election back in 1998, or perhaps it was the lottery defeat or the surreptitious nature of having votes changed in the second election. Or [...]

Siegelman on the Move & Libby Motions

Although it has not been confirmed by the Bureau of Prisons yet, Siegelman’s lawyers and supporters say that he was moved overnight to a facility in Texarkana, Texas. His supporters have also wondered aloud why he was moved so far, and why he was moved out of the region. The pool of available facilities is [...]

A Measure of an Injustice While the Beat Gets Louder

Injustice has a way of bubbling up to the surface no matter how well it has been weighted down by those who hope it will just go away. Injustice finds a way to keep coming back even when the perpetrators thought they had safely put it in the grave, into exile or had locked it [...]

A Quick End to a Long Trial

Two years to the day (on my birthday) that Richard Scrushy was acquitted of 36 counts of fraud-related charges, he was sentenced along with Don Siegelman to federal prison. Whereas he was the only high ranking executive in the recent era of corporate fraud to not be found criminally responsible for the financial crimes that [...]