US political prisoner goes free (Full Version)

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DomKen -> US political prisoner goes free (3/28/2008 3:52:20 PM)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/washington/28cnd-siegelman.html?hp

About time.



luckydog1 -> RE: US political prisoner goes free (3/28/2008 5:10:17 PM)

In June of 2006 he was convicted by a federal jury here of taking $500,000 from Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of the HealthSouth corporation, in exchange for an appointment to the state hospital licensing board.

Maybe you should look up what a political prisioner actually is. 




TheHeretic -> RE: US political prisoner goes free (3/28/2008 7:27:42 PM)

        Now let me see if I have this straight.  I'm not really familiar with all the details of the case, but from what I read in the link, we can't prosecute corrupt officials because they are all corrupt?  Half a million dollars to pay off a debt is a "routine political transaction?"

       Depends on what the definition of "is" is, I guess...



DomKen -> RE: US political prisoner goes free (3/28/2008 8:52:57 PM)

You need to look into the case further.

The post the briber supposedly got was one he already held. The prosecutor is the wife of the campaign manager of the sitting governor who defeated Gov. Siegelman in a late night discovery of uncounted ballots.

There is also the issue of the slow delivery of the trial transcript which delayed his appeal from being heard until now and where and under what conditions he was being held especially his access to his lawyers and family as well as a congressional commitee that wanted to hear his testimony.

And of course we have a an affidavit from an assistant to the former campiagn manager attesting to Karl Rove being involved in the prosecution including apparentlyexerting influence over the DoJ.

In general people aren't allowed to get out on bond while awaiting an appeal unless the appelate court thinks there is a strong chance the conviction will be overturned.



RazorJAK -> RE: US political prisoner goes free (3/28/2008 9:06:56 PM)

Not to mention it's one of the only "White Collar crime" cases where the convicted was dragged out of the courtroom and directly to prison.  Usually they're given a date they have to appear for sentencing after being found guilty.

The court refused to release a transcript of the trial which made it impossible for the defendant's lawyers to file an appeal.

... and so on and so on and so on ...

Not to mention how the local station blacked out the 60 Minutes segment about the case when it aired.





TheHeretic -> RE: US political prisoner goes free (3/28/2008 11:54:18 PM)

       Ahhh.  What I got from your link was the usual blame game against those baa-aaad repubs, and this statement from the convict in question; 
On the telephone outside the prison today, Mr. Siegelman said he had confidence that the federal appeals court, which will now consider his larger appeal, would agree with his view of the case — that he was convicted for a transaction that regularly takes place in American politics.
Otherwise, Mr. Siegelman said, “every governor and every president and every contributor might as well turn themselves in, because it’s going to be open season on them.”


      I would very much be okay with it becoming a prosecutorial open-season on corrupt public servants.



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