Judge who denied jailed Paul Minor's motion for release was Karl Rove protégé

And certainly Don Siegelman and his attorney are taking notes on this.

Rove raised campaign money for judge in Minor case

The federal judge who denied a prominent Democratic fundraiser's motion for release pending appeal last week is a former client and protégé of former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. On Aug. 15, US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Priscilla Owen upheld a lower court’s decision to keep Mississippi attorney Paul Minor in jail pending his appeal, adding more controversy to a case already steeped by allegations of both a politically motivated prosecution and conflicts of interest on the part of the US Attorney.

Minor, a once-prominent trial lawyer, was formerly Mississippi’s largest Democratic donor and made millions from a 1998 settlement with tobacco companies of a lawsuit for costs incurred by Medicare from smoking-related illnesses. The suit kindled resentment among Republicans who had been beneficiaries of the tobacco companies' largesse.

Read on.
Let me add that recently the prosecutors denied Minor to visit his dying wife.