Talkleft:
Justice Department paralegal Tamarah Grimes was a key source of the new information cited in Siegelman's motion. Grimes was fired after writing a lengthy letter to Attorney General Eric Holder outlining her observations of prosecutorial misconduct in Siegelman's case.
In recent days, attention has focused on allegations that the government induced the cooperation of a key witness, former Siegelman aide Nick Bailey, by making an implied threat to expose his alleged sexual relationship with Siegelman. [more ...]
The allegations are supported by the sworn statement (pdf) of Bailey's current employer, Luther Pate. According to Pate:
The "stick" that the government used with Nick was to threaten, expressly or implicitly, actions that would profoundly affect his personal life. I particularly remember that Nick was visibly shaken by a call he received at the office one day when I was present in which he was called by one of the prosecutors working on the Bobo prosecution (Nick said, at that time and since, that it was Matt Hart). Nick was told that the government was working to prevent the publicizing of an alleged sexual relationship between Nick and Don Siegelman.
Nick also told me that one of the agents working the Siegelman/Scrushy prosecution asked him whether he had ever taken illegal drugs with Governor Siegelman or had a sexual relationship with him. These comments had a dramatic effect on Nick and, in my observation, added significantly to the pressure he felt to go along with whatever the prosecutors wanted him to say.
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