Compare & Contrast: The Prosecutions of Don Siegelman (D) and Ted Stevens (R)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-abrahams/the-prosecution-of-ted-st_b_395771.html

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7587

By Rebecca Abrahams on 12/18/2009 11:20AM
Compare and Contrast: The Prosecutions of Don Siegelman (D) and Ted Stevens (R)

Two weeks ago Washington Post reported that U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan named federal prosecutor Henry Schuelke to investigate whether gross prosecutorial misconduct tainted the government's case against now-former Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. At issue, whether prosecutors withheld critical evidence from the defense or whether the case was improperly handled under pressure to meet deadlines.

US Attorney General Eric Holder, in a stunning move, threw out the government's corruption case against Stevens last April and issued the following statement:

After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial.

Holder also relocated attorneys who worked on the case including William H. Welch II, who ran the Department's public integrity unit.

WaPo failed to report that William Welch is currently under criminal contempt of court for his role in the case against Stevens. Welch was also involved in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Siegelman was convicted of bribery in 2006 and served nine months in prison before his release was ordered pending appeal.

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Aside from alleged governmental misconduct in the Siegelman case, there are paramount legal issues that have been recognized by 91 former State Attorneys General and a group of First Amendment law professors across the country. And yet, while the DOJ is making a point to review Republican cases, not one case against a Democrat has been completely overturned....

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According to the petitioners, the 11th Circuit court failed to prove Siegelman personally benefited from HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy's contribution, noting:

The Eleventh Circuit adopted an extraordinarily expansive and unprecedented interpretation of the explicit quid pro quo standard necessary to sustain a conviction.

While Judge Emmet Sullivan's request for an independent prosecutor to be appointed to the case has been answered, the calls to throw out Siegelman's case by retired Federal Judge U.W. Clemon has fallen on deaf ears. Last May Clemon sent a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder calling for the investigation of the Justice Department's prosecution of the former Alabama Governor accusing federal prosecutors of allegedly jury-pool "poisoning" and "judge-shopping" in Siegelman's case after he initially threw it out.

Clemons told Holder in his letter:

The 2004 prosecution of Mr. Siegelman in the Northern District of Alabama was the most unfounded criminal case which I presided in my entire judicial career. In my judgment, his prosecution was completely without legal merit; and it could not have been accomplished without the approval of the Department of Justice.

But the Department of Justice, for some reason, has not budged on overturning the political prosecutions of Democrats such as Siegelman --- begging the question as to whether it believes the Democrats were properly tried. Just last month, Obama's Solicitor General Elena Kagan issued a brief urging the US Supreme Court to deny hearing Siegleman's appeal.

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Siegelman says he believes that the Administration appears to be sitting on its hands with regards to reviewing his case and other Democrats who were politically targeted by the Bush Administration: "I think Holder's well aware of my case and other cases so there's been a decision made not to do anything for what reason I don't know but it's pretty clear they've made a decision not to do anything," he says.

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[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Another stunning aspect of Obama's rule

As far as I know, some of the Bush federal prosecutors are still on the job.

[subterranean]

2. Yes they are, including the one that prosecuted Siegelman.

I find this simply unfathomable. It's especially galling that they have bent over backwards to let Republicans like Stevens off the hook, while leaving Siegelman twisting in the wind.

[KharmaTrain]

5. He's Had Trouble Confirming...

He's faced holds and other procedural games by the rushpublicans on his nominations to the judiciary and most major appointemtnts to the DOJ. Add to this a large plate of messes Holder has had to deal with. Many of the hack booosh cronies have been purged but some remain due to a combination of a manpower shortage and a concerted effort by the booosh regime to "mole" as many of their acolytes in key government departments as possible.

[ThomCat]

3. When it is so glaringly obvious that Bush had his DoJ target

Democrats, and game the rules in order to get convictions at all costs, and it has been revealed publicly to the entire nation that the Bush Administration illegally purged anyone every attorney the could who wasn't a republican and willing to play by their rules, WHY won't Obama have his DoJ take a clear look at those cases for improprieties?

What the fuck kind of game is Obama playing here? What does he think he is gaining by allowing democrats who were railroaded into jail to stay in jail?

Does he think this burnishes his law and order credentials that he gives Republicans new trials but not democrats? It makes him look like someone who has been bought, and is being controlled, and isn't Allowed to give democrats real justice for some reason.

:wtf:

[Hissyspit]

4. .