FDL: Siegelman transcript is finally ready.

[EFerrari]

First Monday: The Siegelman Case — A Political Prosecution Exposed
By: Scott Horton Monday March 3, 2008 12:00 pm

(FDL is pleased to welcome Scott Horton, who writes No Comment for Harper's, to discuss politicized prosecutions and the Siegelman case for today's installment of First Monday -- our monthly legal discussion in conjunction with Alliance For Justice. As always, please stay on topic and take any off-topic comments to the prior thread. Thanks! -- CHS)


Last Sunday, CBS aired its long-awaited feature on the prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman.


The CBS piece, for which I was repeatedly interviewed, came through on its promise to deliver several additional bombshells. The most significant of these was the disclosure that prosecutors pushed the case forward and secured a conviction relying on evidence that they knew or should have known was false, and that they failed to turnover potentially exculpatory evidence to defense counsel. The accusation was dramatically reinforced by the Justice Department’s failure to offer a denial. It delivered a fairly elaborate version of a “no comment,” and even that came a full twenty-four hours after it had conferred with the prosecutors in question. The gravity of the accusations made and the prosecutors’ failure to deny them further escalates concerns about the treatment of the former Alabama governor.



http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/03/first-monday-the-siegelman-case-a-political-prosecution-exposed/

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[L. Coyote]

2. K & R = soooo overdue!

[Fridays Child]

3. k/r

[EFerrari]

4. KIcking for our success. Well done, guys.

:loveya:

[EFerrari]

5. L.Coyote's strategic compilation. Please go give it a kick:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2909551&mesg_id=2909551

[L. Coyote]

15. Give compilations LINKS!

[Hissyspit]

6. Dammit, Beth, I was just about to post that!

:P :)

Of course, it doesn't help that I don't have access to my laptop and am on my iPhone and have to tap the posts in letter by letter!

K&R

[EFerrari]

9. This must be the only time ever that I got there first!

Lol!

:hug:

[Hissyspit]

10. This is the first time I...

have felt like Gov. Siegelman has a real chance of having his conviction overturned. Fingers crossed...here's hoping the pressure keeps up.

[EFerrari]

35. I can't even think about results any more.

But crossing everything, too.

:kick:

[malaise]

7. Nothing like pressure

Release Don Siegelman.

K & R

[spanone]

8. Kick and Recommend

[Kingofalldems]

11. k and r

[Quantess]

28. Recommended!

[lisainmilo]

12. Kick and Recommend!

Commented on U tube also. This needs to be EVERYWHERE!

[Ellipsis]

13. Cool! Big K&R!! n/t

[L. Coyote]

14. The LiveBLOG is a good read! HORTON: "Mukasey is simply engaged in a cover-up."

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/03/first-monday-the-siegelman-case-a-political-prosecution-exposed/

"... Much of the “steering” that goes on at DOJ is “resource allocation,” and this was a heavy allocation of prosecutorial resources for a corrupt purpose — taking down the former Democratic governor — and keeping attention away from the Abramoff debacle, which had the potential of compromising the Alabama G.O.P. hierarchy...."

"...William Pryor is the man who hatched the Siegelman prosecution. He started piecing together a case against Siegelman almost as soon as Siegelman was elected governor, and he consistently attempted to push the charges off on the U.S. attorney’s office so he himself could sit in the backseat. Interestingly, one of the key allegations against Siegelman came from a man named Lanny Young. When Young came in, he detailed specific allegations of petty corruption against Siegelman, and far more substantial allegations against Pryor and Jeff Sessions, the Alabama senator. The U.S. Attorney had her first assistant, Julia Weller, negotiate a plea-bargain with Young. Ms. Weller is the wife of Chris Weller, who was William Pryor’s attorney. So it would come as a surprise to no one that all the accusations against Pryor, and his mentor, Sessions, were dropped,..."

"... Mukasey’s position on this has consistently been that he will “look at it” after the appeal is completed. This is completely absurd. The question he needs to look at is not whether Siegelman is guilty or innocent, but whether the Justice Department figures involved in the case have violated the basic ethical rules governing their conduct. The evidence of that is overwhelming. The case should have been taken out of the hands of the prosecutors in Alabama and given to independent career prosecutors long ago. Mukasey is simply engaged in a cover-up. ..."

[suffragette]

16. K&R

The pressure is having an impact.
Free Siegelman!

[slipslidingaway]

17. K&R n/t

[Kurovski]

18. K&R. (nt)

[EFerrari]

19. Ha! Look at this thread!

Thank you. :loveya:

[Tinksrival]

20. Quote from Horton:

"It’s clear that the Abramoff query trailed off into Alabama, where we say a sizeable eight-figure sum pumped into G.O.P. election efforts. Michael Scanlon who was Abramoff’s “evil twin” was formerly a key staffer to Bob Riley, the man elected as governor of Alabama. When I started tracking the Siegelman matter I kept noticing an amazing coincidence. The people pushing the attack against Siegelman and apparently taken as highly credible by federal prosecutors in Alabama, were individuals who figures as suspects in the Abramoff investigation. Moreover, the two U.S. attorneys in Alabama who should have been pursuing the Abramoff case were off doing other things — in fact, the Siegelman case emerged as their major “public integrity” matter. I don’t think this was a coincidence. Much of the “steering” that goes on at DOJ is “resource allocation,” and this was a heavy allocation of prosecutorial resources for a corrupt purpose — taking down the former Democratic governor — and keeping attention away from the Abramoff debacle, which had the potential of compromising the Alabama G.O.P. hierarchy."

[EFerrari]

34. That hit me like a ton of bricks last week and once you see that

this horrible prosecution makes perfect sense. Horton has fingered the context we're not supposed to see, exactly.

[Pastiche423]

21. What wonderful words to read

as I had just completed my Monday emails to my reps and the memmbers of the House Judiciary Committee! And that was after receiving my 2nd letter from Governor Don!

My wish is that Don Siegelman will be the one to bring down kkkarl rove. (It could happen.)

Questions to anyone w/the answers:

Now that the transcript from his trial has finally been completed, what is the next step? Does the appeal have to go through the same court? How long does the appeal process take?

Going back to finish reading Scott Horton and others' comments...

[Tinksrival]

22. If it wasn't for all who nagged MSNBC........

Horton quote:

"I was notified by one of Siegelman’s lawyers on Saturday that he had been told that the transcript was now finished. So evidently, it could be wrapped up almost immediately after it became a focal point of reporting critical of the Judge, Mark Fuller, on MSNBC’s Live with Dan Abrams.

The court reporter who sat through the trial was suffering with cancer and died shortly thereafter. This would have caused some delay. But I believe it was taken as cover to delay Siegelman’s appeal for half a year or longer. Given the technology available to court reporters today, this transcript could have been completed in a couple of weeks. And it was Judge Fuller’s responsibility–not to actually prepare the transcript, but to be sure that it was done. This was consistent with a series of other steps that Fuller took to slow down the process. The objective: be sure that Siegelman served as many weeks in prison as possible, before his case is reviewed and, quite possibly, thrown out."

[EFerrari]

24. I hope Judge Fuller has a hobby that he enjoys.

:kick:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

29. Court reporters don't even need high tech to read each other's notes.

If you do machine shorthand on a Stenograph, as just about everybody does nowadays, one reporter can pretty much read another reporter's notes without any problem. Everybody does not write shorthand exactly the same way, but the theory taught is generally close to standard with a few individual quirks.

The transcript should have been completed long ago. This was a stalling tactic.

[lonestarnot]

23. I smell the end of a judicial career!

:applause:

[spanone]

25. will it be redacted?

:rofl:

[EFerrari]

33. I just got that! LOL!

:hi:

[EFerrari]

26. kICK

[troubleinwinter]

27. For those looking for it: It is in comment #7 (it is not in the article quoted)

[rambler_american]

30. Kicked and recommended

:kick:

[mod mom]

31. K & R

busy day for moi. will be back after tomorrow! :hi:

[EFerrari]

32. Good luck, mod mom!

:woohoo:

[mod mom]

36. Thanks sfexpat here's my cold account:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4881614&mesg_id=4881614

[countryjake]

37. kick & recommend

thanks to you for keeping this visible!

[hisownpetard]

38. K&R. Great job.

[bobthedrummer]

39. A kick against those involved in the BFEE's version of a Gestapo/Politburo-we know who you are, too!

[Judi Lynn]

40. Good news! K & R. Whoops. My R. is too late. Thanks. n/t

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: