Legal Commentary

The Wavering Rule of Law

By Tom Kirkendall

So, because of prosecutorial misconduct, the Justice Department decides to move for dismissal of the political corruption case against former Alaska senator Ted Stevens (previous posts here and here).

Meanwhile, Jeff Skilling, who created billions of dollars in wealth and thousands of jobs by revolutionizing risk management of natural gas prices for producers and industrial consumers, sits in a Colorado prison cell under the weight of a barbaric 24-year prison sentence. Skilling's conviction involved even more egregious prosecutorial misconduct than the Stevens case. The criminal case against Skilling was materially weaker than the case against Stevens, too.

It is a sad reflection of the current state of American rule of law that the DOJ readily concedes prosecutorial misconduct against a legislator, but ignores it in a shaky case against a businessperson who created many jobs and great wealth.

Full post as published by Houston's Clear Thinkers on April 01, 2009 (boomark / email).