Bits and Pieces for $70, Alex

Congress Takes on Siegelman Case
The case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman will be part of an upcoming Congressional hearing into possible selective prosecution by the Bush Department of Justice (DOJ). Glynn Wilson, of Locust Fork World News and Journal, has followed the Siegelman case closely and has this take on the latest news. So far, the focus appears to be on the Siegelman case, the Georgia Thompson case in Wisconsin, and the Cyril Wecht case in Pennsylvania. Let's hope the investigation becomes broader than that. As we are showing here at Legal Schnauzer, the Paul Minor case in Mississippi cries out for scrutiny. And my own case, involving unlawful rulings by multiple Republican judges in Alabama, is a classic case of suppression of a prosecution. Alice Martin, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, has taken affirmative steps to sweep my case under the proverbial rug. We will be posting more details on that soon.

The Malice of Alice
Speaking of Alice Martin, I thought about her today after reading this story in the business section of The Birmingham News. It's about a local ad agency that has developed a campaign for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The campaign is designed to help raise awareness of various consumer mail-fraud schemes. That's what the postal inspection service does--it looks into consumer fraud. It does not have jurisdiction to investigate white-collar crime, such as honest-services mail fraud under 18 U.S. Code 1346. But Alice Martin took my detailed complaint about judicial wrongdoing and sent it to the postal inspection service. That's what I mean about sweeping my case under the rug. And I have far more details that I will be posting soon about the malice of Alice.

Dollars and Scholars
In earlier posts, we cited the ongoing investigation at Hoover High School as an example of how expensive a problem can get when lawyers get involved. The Hoover School System hired former federal judge Sam Pointer Jr. to investigate allegations of grade changing related to Hoover's renowned football program, the focus of MTV's Two A Days. So what's the latest legal tab for the Hoover folks? We learn today that it amounts to $151,153, based on 757 billable hours. Don't know about you, but that would put a serious ouch in my pocket book. And don't you think that money could have bought an awful lot of textbooks or computers or band outfits--or shoulder pads and helmets, for that matter?

A True Shocker
The most shocking news of all today is that the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission is actually doing something. This most worthless of Alabama agencies has been investigating Mobile circuit judge Herman Thomas for a variety of ethical violations. Among the charges against Thomas are claims from prisoners that he spanked them. Thomas must have really been a bad boy if he actually screwed up enough to draw the JIC's attention. I've filed multiple complaints regarding corrupt judges in Shelby County, and the JIC never lifted a finger to look into any of them. I figured the commission made the Maytag Repairman look like an overachiever. But it turns out the JIC actually does something once in a while. Well snip my pickle and call me Shlomo! And get this: Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson is pursuing a separate investigation into whether Thomas issued biased rulings favoring certain friends. Well, snip my pickle again! That's the way things are done on a regular basis in Shelby County. You mean there's something wrong with that? What's with this Tyson character? Why is he actually doing his job? What are the chances that Shelby County DA Robby Owens will look into wrongdoing by judges in his district? I would say Britney Spears has a better chance of being named Mother of the Year.