Constitutional Law

Former Gov. Siegelman Freed While Questions Raised About Political Prosecution

"Former Gov. Don Siegelman, who has spent the past nine months behind bars, will be freed from prison today after a court ruled there were substantial questions about his conviction in a government corruption case, his lawyer said. . . . The ruling came the same day the U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced it wanted Siegelman to testify before Congress about the possible role of politics in his prosecution," the Birmingham News reported.

The Judiciary Committee is investigating allegations that partisans in the Justice Department pursued cases against Democrats for political reasons, and Siegelman's is one of several cases under scrutiny. Siegelman has maintained that Republicans out to derail his political career were behind his prosecution.

Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, is a member of the judiciary panel and said Thursday that he would have preferred the committee call former White House political adviser Karl Rove instead of Siegelman. An Alabama woman has alleged that Rove personally contacted federal prosecutors about Siegelman's case, which Rove has denied.

The ruling is available here.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 28, 2008 (boomark / email).