Prosecutors ask for much longer sentence for Siegelman
Published: May 13, 2009
Updated 6 months ago
“Federal prosecutors want former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to serve a much longer sentence than he originally received in a federal government corruption case, even though an appellate court has thrown out two of the charges against him,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
The prosecutors have sent a letter to federal probation officers recommending that Siegelman be sentenced to 20 years in federal prison when he receives a new sentencing hearing in federal court in Montgomery. Siegelman was originally sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his 2006 conviction for bribery, obstruction of justice and other charges.
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“It’s evident that this team of prosecutors are biased and hell-bent to uphold this conviction and try to punish me as much as they can,“ Siegelman said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
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A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March upheld much of Siegelman’s conviction, but threw out two mail fraud counts.
Siegelman’s attorney, Vince Kilborn, said Friday it’s “laughable” for prosecutors to recommend a tougher sentence than the former governor received before two of the charges he was convicted of were dismissed.
“It’s a continuation of government overreaching in this case,“ Kilborn said. “Obviously since two felony counts were dismissed by the 11th Circuit, his sentence should be reduced.“
In response, former legal journalist Roger Shuler wrote at his Legal Schnauzer blog that the news was “alarming for a couple of reasons.”
(1) It lends credence to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that upheld most of the convictions against Siegelman and codefendant Richard Scrushy. Our research of the ruling, and the relevant law and facts, indicates the 11th Circuit’s ruling was flawed, unlawful, and a continuation of the politics that have permeated the case from the outset.
(2) It indicates that federal prosecutors are acting as brazenly under the Barack Obama administration as they did under George W. Bush. We now have Eric Holder as attorney general, but today’s news indicates that makes zero difference to the prosecutors who ramrodded the Siegelman case.
Is the 11th Circuit’s ruling flawed? The answer is yes. You certainly won’t hear about that from federal prosecutors, and no one in the mainstream press is likely to examine the ruling closely enough to determine whether it is legit or not.
But we have studied the ruling and found it be full of holes. Our findings are coming soon.
Last month, Holder indicated he wouldn’t be reviewing the case despite legal questions surrounding it and allegations that it was a Bush-era political prosecution. The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating it since last year.
“Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is moving to revamp Justice Department procedures in the wake of the prosecutorial debacle in the Ted Stevens case,” Keith Perine reported for CQ Politics. “But Holder said today that he is not reviewing the Justice Department’s prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Donald Siegelman on corruption charges, nor other corruption cases involving Alaskan officials.”
Holder said, “I don’t have any reviews under way at this point, but I always want to ensure that the Justice Department acts in a way that is consistent with the long tradition of this great department.”
RAW STORY’s Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane have been covering the Siegelman case since the fall of 2007.
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Right wing Democrats and hold overs from the Bush Justice Department appear out to get any Democrat who opens his mouth and asks that Justice be done, that the Justice Department do its job fairly.
Now AG Holder admits he approved “rendition” for President Clinton. And he took an Oath to protect our Constitution and enforce Federal Laws.
The only way to train the Democrats to enforce US Federal Laws against the guilty and protect our Constitution is to force them to prosecute those in the Bush Administration who ordered Torture and/or conspired to Torture.
Both are Federal Capital Crimes. All the nonsense the Obama Administration is using to divert us from these needed prosecutions is silly.
It is time that Obama honored his Oath Of Office to enforce our laws and protect our Constitution. Else we will know he is Soft On Crime (only when a politician is the doer of course).
Obama should provide for Siegelman at least the modicum of justice he afforded that criminal Senator from Alaska.
We must all call for prosecution of Torturers. It is the line we must pull the congressional Democrats over. Support our laws and Constitution.
SIGN THE PETITION Calling for a Special Prosecutor
http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG
,
So are the FEDS going back through time to prosecute every governor who made appointments after accepting sizable campaign contributions? If so, there will be lots of governors and ex-governors going to prison.
It appears someone is trying to silence Don Siegelman, and for a very long time.
Never go Alabama. Not under any circumstance.
A.G. Holder,
STOP ! . . . being a PLACE HOLDER . . .
FREE ~ Don Siegelman !
~
So, Holder won’t clean that cesspool up? That changes my opinion of him a little. WTF?
ummm…holder wrote the original torture/extradition memo’s. How come your opinion wasn’t changed then? …because he wears a Dem. jersey?
Has it occurred to anyone that this guy might actually be guilty? I am not losing any sleep over Governors being locked up anyhow. Maybe if it was Jesse Ventura….
Un-fucking-believable. Well, I will give the prosecutors one thing, they’ve got very large balls. IMO, this is just further proof that the Siegelman case is nothing BUT politically motivated. Scumbags.
If Holder doesn’t review the prosecutorial misconduct just SCREAMING from this case, I will lose more respect for him. This is BULLSHIT.
The new american salute - Cover your eyes and open your wallet…
Republican or Democrat, it doesn’t really matter - there will be no more justice in America.
Seems like long past time for Obama to fire the political appointees in the DOJ and give Sigelman the pardon he deserves for having been a political prisoner of Rove!
So what is the penalty for being a Democrat in Alabama?
I think the Judge, and Prosecutor should be doing the time. “Rove’s Girls” should be the ones behind bars.
Pssssst Holder. Stevens was guilty, and Siegelman was not. What goes?
As someone that has been very politically active all my life, I am beginning to give up on political solutions. When we have victims like Don who was caught up on the gutting of our rule of law and the AG of the “administration of change” does nothing about it, it is a sign of more of the same. As Matt Taibibi said, we just had someone blow a $1 trillion dollar hole in our economy and so far only one person has gone to jail when there are literally people in prison for 5 years for selling a dime bag of pot. We need radical change.
Siegelman obviously really pissed off the Plutes. Unfortunately Obama has neither the balls nor the will to oppose his masters.
I’m finally starting to lose faith in the cleverly marketed Change product.
I was a true believer. I believe in being patient, cuz there’s so much that needs to be fixed, and so much resistance.
But this issue, and the above mentioned lack of prosecution of fiscally irresponsible pluto-plunderers, and the new appointee to run the revamped war in Afghanistan, are too many things to excuse.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’m finally starting to lose faith.
The Stevens’ case was brought down because of inappropiate procedings of the prosecution, in spite of compelling evidence, but the Siegelman case won’t be reviewed? Even though it is based on very questionable evidence and flawed because of the aparent political motives that made the prosecution throw any available piece of mud against the governor in an attempt to make something stick? And to make it even more outrageous, not a single other governor has ever been tried on the same grounds, even though the vast majority engages in the same kind of political behaviour that was claimed to be illegal in Siegelman’s case. That’s an obvious case of double standards used by the DoJ, and there should be an official investigation by the Congress to determine wtf is going there. Clear out that pigsty now!
There is an article here about $12 million dollars, people and companies involved that created Siegelman’s legal problems:
http://www.wsfa.com/global/story.asp?s=6572178