Siegelman Appeal Could Take a Year or More to Be Decided

[Hissyspit]

Source: Birmingham (AL) News

Siegelman appeal could take a year or more to be decided

Prosecutor suggests 18-month time frame

Sunday, March 30, 2008
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer

MONTGOMERY - Former Gov. Don Siegelman has nine months of prison behind him, but the legal saga ahead of him could stretch out a year or more, lawyers in the case said.

During that time, Siegelman's quest for a reversal of fortune partly will focus on the legal test for proving a campaign contribution was a bribe and allegations of juror misconduct, according to his attorney. Lawyers involved in the case gave estimates ranging from six to 18 months on how long the appeal in the government corruption case will take.

Art Leach, a lawyer representing Siegelman co-defendant Richard Scrushy, the founder of HealthSouth, estimated the appeal could take six months to a year. Chief prosecutor Louis Franklin put the time frame at 18 months. "That's taking into account the voluminous nature of this case," Franklin said.

- snip -

Leach said he was heartened by the Siegelman decision, which he said could bode well for the appeal. But he was disappointed his client had been less fortunate. The appellate court ruled Scrushy must stay in a Beaumont, Texas, prison during appeals, citing him as a potential flight risk.

Read more: http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1206864974224150.xml&coll=2

[struggle4progress]

1. Translation: The prosecutor is working hard to prevent a ruling before Nov 08

It was a political case, it is a political case, and it will be a political case

[Hissyspit]

2. Some people working hard to keep Siegelman in jail as a way...

to keep themselves out of jail.

[Hawkeye-X]

3. Don Siegelman wrote .. "All Roads lead to Rove"

and I'm sure the appeal will be accepted, and summarily dismissed, freeing Siegelman, while new indictments will be coming up for Karl Rove (need to detain him before he flees out of the country - preferably in Florence, Colorado AD-MAX facility) as soon as Obama's sworn in - we got some serious cleaning up to do.

[blayne]

4. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if it took 10 years,

as long as he wasn't locked up and was vindicated.

[OzarkDem]

5. Is there a fund to help him pay legal fees?

At least he will be out of prison for a long time, hopefully never to return.

[Hissyspit]

7. Here:

Middle Column of Page:

http://donsiegelman.org

[DCKit]

6. Juror misconduct?

That's like saying we should be concerned with voter fraud when the real issue is election fraud - A whole different, much larger and more dangerous animal.

When they get around to exploring the politically and financially motivated judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, I'll get interested again.

[99th_Monkey]

8. Could someone be trying to cover their proverbial asses? Just maybe?

as in the Judge & the Jury?

Nothing like waiting until you see which way the 2008 GE winds end up blowing in November.

[JI7]

9. can Obama just pardon him ?

[cascadiance]

10. No, probably don't need to and don't want to let any of Bushco expect to be pardoned in return!

Play it sort of like Bushco did with Microsoft's appeal.

With newer prosecutors when Obama sweeps in a new set of U.S. Attorneys, probably cut a deal to drop a lot of the charges or stop looking to pursue them sort of like Ashcroft did with Microsoft. Then promise the judge a FISA Court spot sort of like the judge in the Microsoft case did a few months before she ruled to overturn the anti-trust ruling. Only do that if he thinks that the judge will be "difficult" in this case. If the judge won't play ball in any way, then pardon him.