Update on Don Siegleman.

From Don Siegleman's website:

MARCH 04 2008

1. Siegelman attorneys ready to begin appeals process

2. The Forgotten Charge Against Don Siegelman

3. McCain Gets Riley Endorsement After Years Of Political Help

4. Prosecutors Say Siegelman Should Remain In Prison During Appeal

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Siegelman attorneys ready to begin appeals process

By Brian Lyman of Mobile Press Register

An attorney for Don Siegelman said Monday that an official transcript of the trial has been all but completed, and he expects to file an appeal next month of the former governor's conviction on bribery and obstruction of justice charges."There were sidebars that were separate portions, and I'm not positive we have all that," said Vince Kilborn, who defended Siegelman in the trial. "We have enough to begin writing the briefs."

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The Forgotten Charge Against Don Siegelman

by Roger Shuler of Legal Schnauzer

....Siegelman was convicted of one count of bribery and one count of obstruction of justice. But by far, the stickiest charge against him was honest-services mail fraud. He was convicted of four counts of honest-services mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit honest-services mail fraud.The final score? Five of the seven counts for which Siegelman was convicted were related to honest-services mail fraud. (In all, the former governor was convicted on seven counts and acquitted on 26 counts--not a particularly strong showing for the prosecution.)

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McCain Gets Riley Endorsement After Years Of Political Help

by Sam Stein of The Huffington Post

...Indeed, as the Huffington Post reported last week, in the summer of 2006 McCain had access to an email from disgraced-lobbyist Jack Abramoff that tied Riley [Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama. Riley replaced Siegleman in contraversial 2002 election. Riley has ties to Siegleman case] to his influence peddling scandal. But instead of including it in his Senate Indian Affairs Committee report, he sat on it. A few months later, Riley was reelected.At the time, McCain acknowledged that there were some public officials with Abramoff connections, but insisted that it was not his job to investigate them."There's strong evidence that there was significant wrongdoing, but I'm not a judge or jury," he told Meet The Press. "I will not [investigate], because I'm a chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee.

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Prosecutors Say Siegelman Should Remain In Prison During Appeal

AP for NBC Channel 13

Federal prosecutors have told appeals court judges that former Governor Don Siegelman should remain in prison while his conviction in a government corruption case is being appealed.Prosecutor Louis Franklin said the government believes Siegelman's attorneys have not shown that the former governor has a substantial chance of winning his case on appeal and therefore should remain in federal prison.But Siegelman's attorney Vince Kilborn said "that's a matter of opinion."