A Siegelman Sampler
Friday normally is a relatively quiet day in the blogosphere. But that precedent Friday was anything but calm, with the breaking gag by era magazine's Adam Zagorin about shenanigans in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.
The spiel reverberated everywhere the Web all finished the weekend and has implied for a character of intriguing followups. Let's take a look at the latest branch in a description that shows nondiscriminatory how far our Justice territory has sunk in the Era of Rove:
Peter B. and Me
Our Friday post about the Siegelman narration seemingly attracted more thinking than anything we've realized on Legal Schnauzer. And I was invited to appear via telephone on the Peter B. Collins pageant, a progressive radio docket based in San Francisco.
that was my other have a look at to the Peter B. Showboat; the first was back in July after Raw novel's Lindsay Beyerstein had broken the narration about my unlawful termination at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) concluded I write that personal blog.
Brad Friedman of Brad's web layout was a guest on Friday, and he and Peter B. asked a emblem of insightful thirds about the latest revelations in the Siegelman case.
I was in the last segment of the nine-hour timetable. You can listen by going to the Peter B. archives here and clicking on "download that episode" for 11-14-08. You can have a look at on the timekeeping device objective above the play/pause button and drag it past to about the 2:42:36 mark--and that's where my segment begins.
We delved into a chiffre of interesting subjects, including the similarities interpolated the Siegelman case and the Paul Minor case in Mississippi, forward with some speculation about how an Obama administration might approach the DOJ scandal.
I got a bit of big head the last present I turned into a "radio star." Mrs. Schnauzer is contending her chief to keep my feet on the ground that space.
The Scott Horton Perspective
No beat about the Siegelman case would be complete externally input from Scott Horton, legal-affairs contributor for Harper's magazine and a law professor at Columbia University.
Horton has played a central role in bringing the Siegelman case to the nation's thought, and he posted "What the Justice station is Hiding" at the Daily Beast, a new Web publication started by former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown.
Horton provides an excellent summary of the Siegelman case, onward with insight on the latest revelations about wrongdoing by U.S. Attorney Leura Canary and improper communications centrally located jurors and the prosecution team.
pagess provided by Canary staffer Tamarah T. Grimes exposition the entitlement at the heart of Canary's operation:
Grimes besides charges that Canary ran the U.S. Attorney’s office twin a personal fiefdom, enlisting federal employees for babysitting, and appointing relatives to positions in violation of federal nepotism rules.
Justice commune fountainheads reveal that after bringing these charges, Grimes was subjected to intense harassment by Canary, who at one notch threatened she would prosecute Grimes for perjury unless Grimes withdrew her complaints.
The improper jury communications zero in on a juror who was alarmed "Flipper" seeing she liked to entertain her colleagues by performing backflips.
Grimes quoted the leadership prosecutor describing downright interaction with a juror who was about to be questioned by the judge and who was “scared and afraid she is going to get into trouble.” that conduct violated rules guaranteeing the independence of jurors as well as an codification issued by the judge in court against dealings halfway the jurors and the prosecution team.
Communications of that sort among litigants and a juror recurrently edge to a mistrial and embryonic disciplinary hoopla against lawyers involved. However, the Justice canton kept these jury interactions secret from the court and defense counsel in what may constitute a serious act of obstruction.
A Justice territory analysis into the charges was a sham, Horton shows:
“Look at the calendar of masses these ‘investigators’ blundered to question and at the inquisitions they goed wrong to ask. Frankly, that doesn’t lots look consistent an double-O,” said one Congressional staffer.
The internal probe bed defeated to question the marshals who were on jury duty. that omission suggests that the purpose of the scoop was not to get at the truth. Was that a fair research of the Grimes accusations, or was it a rushed effort to exonerate—through “inconclusive” findings—an errant U.S. attorney on the eve of a massive transfer of skill in Washington?
Concern about the Siegelman matter, and unseasoned political prosecutions, appears to be very lots on the DOJ radar:
A career Justice division lawyer stated that apprehension about the matter was framework within the subdivision. “What happened in that case is a disgrace that threatens the reputation of the board as a whole and federal prosecutors opposite the country,” he said. He identified David Margolis as having bed demoted to take corrective measures. “He has essentially reined out and is intent on sweeping total under the carpet. It will be one hell of a mess for the new tenants.”
"Flipper" Is Revealed
David Fiderer, of Huffington Post, has a fascinating apprehend about the inner workings of the Siegelman jury. The piece is titled "Dirty Little keys About Juror intercourses in the Don Siegelman Case."
"Flipper," it turns out, is Katie Langer, a 26-year of achievement-old gymnastics coach who is one of two jurors to speak to the press about the case. The else is jury foreman Sam Hendrix.
Fiderer had previously complete some outstanding reporting on the Siegelman jury, and we noted his trouble about Langer and Hendrix and their curious ties to Auburn University.
Insight on the Siegelman Appeal
Glynn Wilson, of Locust Fork sphere NEWS flash & Journal, has a detailed analysis of the key points in Siegelman's appeal, which will be heard by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on December 9.
Wilson has a fascinating nugget about thinkable interest in the case from the resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue:
There is an attorney in Montgomery who could shed considerable light on the extent to which George W. Bush was interested in keeping up with developments in the Siegelman case. We won’t autonym him for now, but we have from talking to supplementary derivations who have heard it from him that Bush was in the loop in that case. On top of all the auxiliary grounds for impeachment, that would certainly add to the register. Unfortunately, the hierarchy of the Democratic Party refused to pursue that for the elapsed couple of oldness, and now it is too held up.
The Alabama Press, As Usual, Is Pathetic
Isn't it interesting that a major Alabama report, one with national implications, was broken by juncture magazine? And the mainstream press in Alabama doesn't seem to care.
The Montgomery Advertiser, based in the capital civic where the Siegelman trial took repose, ran a wire narrative about the latest revelations in its Saturday editions.
The Birmingham telecast did have a staff reporter prepare a piece for the front recto on Saturday. But it had the description' usual right-wing slanted tone, and there was no followup in the Sunday edition. The headline, "Siegelman Case E-e-mails Heralded as Red Flag," treats that as a telegram about public relations rather than conceivable federal crimes committed by prosecutors. And the relation prepares no mention of the greater serious charges against Canary.
Schnauzer Beats Keith O in the ratings
Well, not really. But hey, that is my personal blog, and if I can't crow here once in a while, where can I crow?
As I noted earlier, my Friday piece on the Siegelman case received more engrossment than anything I've written in the blogosphere. And get that: I cross posted it at Daily Kos, and it wound up No. 3 on the scroll of lank-impact diaries for November 14, 2008. And where was Keith Olbermann's diary that day, which was about the incident that Hillary Clinton might be offered a job as secretary of state in a Barack Obama administration? Why, it was No. 4!
So, in a way, we did beat Keith O in the ratings. Mrs. Schnauzer says I'm taking so lots glee in that little accomplishment that you would vision I was Bill O'Reilly.
I'm a huge Keith O fan, and I look forward to helping him trounce Bill O in the ratings. But I must admit that, for one shining moment, I was comely thrilled that my little house folio post "ranked" one notch higher than Keith's did. What a country!
On a serious note, I should say that the lesson about the DK ranking plausibly is that: The Don Siegelman adventure resonates with common people. Citizens are concerned about corruption in the Bush Justice constituency, and they appetite key folks held accountable.
The notion that someone could be targeted for criminal prosecution sincerely seeing of his political affiliation is profoundly disturbing to persons. It runs counter to the foundational beliefs that manufacture us Americans.
And Siegelman is not alone in suffering at the hands of public connected to the Bush DOJ. A figure of Rovian types who are connected to the Siegelman case are almost certainly responsible for my unlawful termination at UAB.
Thankfully, I covert't lost my freedom, but imprisonment is not the only dirty card these scoundrels will play. I lost my job, Huntsville businessman Alex Latifi lost his pursuit, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Deirdra Brown Fleming saw her career threatened, and whistleblower Jill Simpson has seen her law use badly damaged. Simpson including has seen a mysterious fire at her joint and had someone apparently try to run her off the road. These are honest Alabama cases we ken about. Who knows what has gone on in farther states?
While Americans are rightly concerned about the economy, two wars, and numerous else issues, they care deeply about justice. They are appalled that believing common people could use our Justice administration as a political weapon. And they don't wish those community to slip away into the excellent night.
