“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.
….
“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.
Last month, Holder indicated he wouln’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.”
….
Read on.
4 comments:
Insanity. The legal system in this country is broken, with no sign of being fixed.
I blame prosecutors that refused to charge political leaders who blatantly and in-your-face broke laws, treaties, etc. This set the anti-American legal/political/fascist standard. (Legal/political/fascist=one in the same, as precedent set by Bush and continuing much to my disgust) No this is not your founding fathers idea of the American legal system.
Let's see who else was in on the scam to set up Don?
When Holder took the job, he walked into a Department of Justice that had been fully corrupted from every division: Criminal, Civil, Forfeiture, Office of Professional Responsiblity, The Public Integrity Section, OLC, OSC, and so on.
Don Siegelman's case was first brought upon from the Public Integrity Section in DOJ. Rove tainted that division which was under Noel Hillman who is now the NJ judge.
Until the judicial system remain unbroken, you have to get rid of the garbage first and that means the head and deputy of the Public Integrity Section that is tainted from the Ted Stevens case and put in honest people. Otherwise, if Holder took on Siegelman case, the fear is that the individuals involved in the case could walk under a much tainted DOJ.
As much as I feel for Siegelman wanting justice in his case, Holder is doing the right thing by cleaning up the department starting with the leaders first. Unfortunately, Siegelman's case will have to go to the Public Integrity Section for review which I am not in favor for that department to take on the case since it is under investigation by Judge Emmett Sullivan, judge in the Stevens case.
I don't blame the prosecutors. This whole mess is under Bush which Holder has inherited. People tend to forget that.
Post a Comment