Siegelman Updates
Scott Horton
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/02/hbc-90002517.................
MSNBC Chief Calls for Release of Siegelman
NBC chief legal correspondent and MSNBC head Dan Abrams last night hosted a further detailed discussion focusing on the trial and sentencing of Don Siegelman. Abrams was joined by former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, a co-chair of the McCain for President leadership committee, and Vince Kilborn, an attorney for the imprisoned governor. This segment reviewed the conduct of Mark Everett Fuller, the federal judge who presided over the Siegelman case, refusing to recuse himself notwithstanding the fact that he previously make public statements suggesting he had a grudge against Siegelman, and as a member of the Alabama G.O.P.’s Executive Committee was directly involved in political campaigns against Siegelman. Abrams focused in on a number of serious irregularities that marked Fuller’s conduct of the trial:
* Excessive Sentence: Siegelman was acquitted of 25 of 32 counts, yet he got seven years and four months....
* Immediately Led Away in Shackles...
* No Bail Pending Appeal: No bail was allowed, even though an appeal for the non-violent crime ....
* Transcript Delay: The appeal is delayed because the court has yet to produce a trial transcript ....
Abrams ended the segment making the obvious point: the incarceration of the former governor pending his appeal is just one more travesty in this entire seedy mess. He called for the Court of Appeals in Atlanta to order Siegelman’s immediate release pending appeal.
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