New Twist in Appeal of Ex-Alabama Governor

[cal04]

Source: NY Times

New accusations have emerged during the appeal of the bribery conviction of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama that could buttress Democrats’ claims that the case against him was politically tainted, even as he prepares to argue against his conviction in a federal appeals court in Atlanta early next month.

The accusations, from a Department of Justice employee, suggest that the Republican United States attorney whose office prosecuted Mr. Siegelman remained substantially involved in the case, long after she insisted she had removed herself from it because of her partisan connections.

And the formal complaints by the employee, a legal aide in office of the United States attorney in Montgomery, Ala., have brought to light an episode in the 2006 bribery and corruption trial that Mr. Siegelman’s lawyers now say could have led to a key juror’s removal: flirtatious messages sent by jurors to the prosecution about the marital status of an F.B.I. agent who was working with prosecutors. Other jurors have said they felt pressured by the judge to reach a decision in order to go home, and said some jury members read about the case on the Internet during the trial.

(snip)
Yet in her complaint, the Justice Department employee, Tamarah T. Grimes, cited several instances suggesting Ms. Canary maintained a close watch on the case. Ms. Grimes said a legal aide in the office reported on Mr. Siegelman’s trial to Ms. Canary or her top deputy “every day, sometimes several times per day by telephone.” Once, she observed Ms. Canary “frantically pacing in the executive suite” after a courtroom blowup, “pleading with someone” to get on the phone to “tell Louis he has to control his temper.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/us/22siegelman.html?hp

[Pastiche423]

1. I love good news!

Gov. Don will win his appeal.

[annabanana]

2. EXcellent!

I predict that Siegelman will be vindicated. Now if we only can get an Atty General who will pursue the lawbreakers. This is no piddly little perjury thing.. this is a big traitorous thing...

[tritsofme]

3. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he gets an 11th hour pardon from Bush.

So that the whole mess goes away and is never fully exposed.

[jody]

4. I look forward to the civil suits and prosecutions for perjury, et al that will follow Don's

exoneration.

[sasquatch]

5. The jurors should be treated like pediphiles after this is finished

[Richard Steele]

6. K&R

[RollWithIt]

7. Louis is the judge?

That would connect the dots right?

[SalmonChantedEvening]

8. K&R! Sing little Canary!

Take your bosses down with you!!

Per chance to dream indeed.

Thank you cal04! :hug: :loveya: :yourock:

[Octafish]

9. May she and her co-conspirators soon spend their lives frantically pacing in their cells.

These are not mere crooks. They are traitors and should be treated as such.

[druidity33]

10. Norm Coleman sure pissed off the

Republicans in Fillmore Co somehow...

Quite a few McClame/Franken votes there, all challenged by the Coleman campaign...

:eyes:

[No Elephants]

11. Free Siegelman and prosecute the "evildoers".