Don Siegleman, political prisoner

60 minutes reported last night that Don Siegleman, who was convicted of bribery and who was once the Alabama governor, was actually convicted in very unusual circumstances. Initially, the case brought by prosecutors was very weak and thrown out by the judge after the opening statements for lack of evidence. The prosecution was headed by the wife of the person who replaced Siegleman, and was influenced by Karl Rove, who asked the federal prosecutors to look at Siegleman. The Justice Department, which refused to release its notes to Congress, then interviewed many more available and potential witnesses a la a special prosecutor or IRS, investigating a "person" rather than a crime. Siegleman was retried on the strength of the testimony of a convicted felon who plea bargained that he saw Siegleman receive a check from Richard Scrushy, but who needed to spend a whole day with a prosecutor to "get his story straight." The notes of his attempts to "remember" were discoverable but never released to the defense team. The Alabama Republican judge sent the jury back after they deadlocked twice, and the third time they convicted. After conviction, the judge had Siegleman manacled and remanded immediately instead of giving him his customary 45 days. In essence, Siegleman was tried because he was a Democrat running for governor. The whole 60 minutes segment is available here: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/todays_must_read_283.php

If the elements of this story are true, and I don't doubt they are, then the federal prosecutors have now joined independent counsels, and the IRS, and other rogue government agencies in looking for crimes where none exist. This is a political prosecution, and Siegleman is a political prisoner of the federal court.