More Craziness in Alabama

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has been sentenced, and he is in a federal prison in Atlanta. But the intrigue continues in his peculiar prosecution.

The Associated Press reports today that the office of one of Siegelman's lawyers was ransacked Sunday night or Monday morning. Attorney Susan James reported that the intruders did not take a number of valuable items, but appeared to be looking for client files. Her files on the Siegelman case were at her home, not at her office.

This comes on the heels of a mysterious house fire and automobile crash involving Dana Jill Simpson, the attorney who stated in an affidavit that Republican operative Bill Canary and White House strategist Karl Rove instigated a politically motivated prosecution of Siegelman.

Scott Horton of Harper's points out that there is no evidence that Rove, Canary or their associates were involved in any of these strange events. But he also states that the people who were behind the highly irregular Siegelman prosecution probably would not be put off by the idea of a petty burglary.

How does this relate to the case we are outlining here at Legal Schnauzer? Well, it is public record that Rove and Canary were behind the campaign wizardry that led to Alabama's state courts becoming dominated by Republicans. And if the charges in Simpson's affidavit prove to be on target, would we expect Alabama's state courts to be operated in an honest, above-board way?

I don't think so. And we will show that, to a great degree, the Republican state judges in my case engaged in conduct that is very similar to that for which Siegelman was tried and convicted.

Here's a quote worth remembering from a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release on the day Siegelman was convicted (June 29, 2006):

"The Justice Department will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute corrupt public officials and those who conspire to corrupt them."

That's from Alice S. Fisher, assistant attorney general for the DOJ's Criminal Division.

Will Fisher & Co. back up their words by taking action against the corrupt judges and lawyers in the Legal Schnauzer case? Or will they ignore Republican wrongdoing, adding to the growing body of evidence that indicates the DOJ has been politicized beyond recognition?