Thursday, July 24, 2008

Fix Was in on Siegelman Case

MSNBC's Dan Abrams has broken a new chapter in the story of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.

Julian Epstein, former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, told Abrams that a number of Republicans have admitted to him off camera that the Siegelman case was fixed.

Glynn Wilson, of Locust Fork World News, has a complete report here.

Wilson also has a link to a scathing new post from Harper's Scott Horton. A law professor at Columbia University, Horton essentially says that Attorney General Michael Mukasey has been no more accountable than his disgraced predecessor Alberto Gonzalez.

Specifically, Horton raises these issues regarding Mukasey and the Justice Department:

* Why were prosecutors in the Siegelman case allowed to hold improper ex parte dealings with trial judge Mark Fuller?

* What evidence has the Justice Department uncovered to indicate that e-mails between jurors in the Siegelman case were "fakes?" Steps taken by postal inspectors do not warrant that conclusion, and steps that could have settled the matter were not taken. Why?

* Defense counsel during the Siegelman trial asked the court to issue subpoenas to Internet service providers to ascertain whether the e-mails were genuine and to learn who sent them. Prosecutors objected, and Judge Mark Fuller refused to issue subpoenas. Instead, he held off on sentencing for almost one year, a period which coincides with the retention period of many Internet service providers. Did Fuller delay sentencing so that the truth behind the juror e-mails would not be discovered?

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