Is Justice on the March in Alabama, Mississippi?

Developments this week point to progress in efforts to shine light on a possible scheme to practice political prosecution in the Bush Justice Department.

The Montgomery Independent reports that the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is focusing on the two Don Siegelman prosecutions in Alabama, examining the actions of U.S. attorneys Leura Canary (Middle District) and Alice Martin (Northern District).

OPR also is investigating the Georgia Thompson case in Wisconsin, the Cyril Wecht case in Pennsylvania, and the Paul Minor case in Mississippi.

The Independent's story, written by Editor and Publisher Bob Martin, is the first report that the OPR investigation will look at the first Siegelman case, which involved charges of Medicaid fraud. That case, directed by Alice Martin, was thrown out by U.S. Judge U.W. Clemon.

Will the OPR probe look beyond Alice Martin's actions in the Siegelman case? That's an intriguing question for us here at Legal Schnauzer. We are in the midst of a series of posts that will show conclusively that Alice Martin practices political prosecution in the form of intentionally non-prosecuting crimes of Alabama Republicans with loyalties to the Bush Administration.

Such wrongdoing is the flip side of the Siegelman case, which involved prosecution of innocent parties for apparent political reasons. My experience involves not prosecuting guilty parties for apparent political reasons--namely, that they are Republicans and loyal Bushies. We will show exactly how Alice Martin accomplishes that task, and we hope some authoritative body takes notice.

Adam Lynch of the Jackson Free Press in Mississippi continues to become a major journalistic presence in coverage of the Justice Department scandal. Lynch reports on several signs that the tide might be turning against the Bush loyalists who have corrupted our justice system.

Lynch points to a recent Justice Department motion to drop an earlier quest for harsher sentences in the Siegelman/Richard Scrushy case.

Lynch also points to a recent Raw Story report that Mississippi U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton, who directed the Paul Minor case, allegedly shared confidential income-tax returns of a prosecution target with unauthorized personnel.

Finally, we had news that a Michigan jury had acquitted attorneys Geoffrey Fieger and Ven Johnson of making illegal contributions to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards.

As for the OPR investigation, Scott Horton of Harper's magazine provides a cautionary note. Horton says he considers the OPR investigation to be a sham that will not produce substantive action. Horton's comments probably are driven by OPR's recent finding that cleared Alice Martin of perjury charges in an employment-related case--despite overwhelming evidence that Martin had indeed lied under oath.

It sounds as though Horton feels justice ultimately will lie in the hands of the U.S. Congress--and perhaps a revived Justice Department following the installment of a new administration in January 2009.

There is one sign of hope regarding OPR. Counsel H. Marshall Jarrett is not a Bush appointee. He was appointed by Janet Reno, former attorney general under President Bill Clinton.