Maybe this is why Rove is leaving?
- Thread starter evince
- Start date
evince
Truthmatters
Prosecution Continues to Disintegrate in Siegelman Case
BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED June 26, 2007
In a bizarre twist in an increasingly inexplicable case, prosecutors in proceedings in Montgomery today argued to federal district court judge Mark Fuller that former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman should be sentenced to thirty years in prison on account of accusations they presented to the jury, and the jury rejected. Even more remarkably, Fuller appears prepared to accept these arguments. In a sign of the fairness of treatment that has characterized the entire proceeding, the judge granted the prosecutors two full days to present them, and Siegelman one day to respond. Repeatedly the prosecutors claimed that Siegelman “lined his pockets” and claimed that he was the “nexus of a pay to play” system. The problem with this is that no evidence of personal benefit to Siegelman was ever offered.
Moreover, now the nation’s leading authority under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) has weighed in. Unable to build a direct corruption case, prosecutors relied on a much abused statute designed to help prosecutors battling organized crime in bringing a case. Professor G. Robert Blakey, a former prosecutor and now a law professor who advised Congress in enacting RICO called the entire case against Siegelman a “garbage can” and “a joke.” The New York Times reports:
The shakiness of the federal case against Mr. Siegelman had forced prosecutors to “adopt the garbage-can theory of RICO,” said G. Robert Blakey, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and former prosecutor, referring to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. Professor Blakey suggested that the charges against Mr. Siegelman had been indiscriminate from the outset.
“It’s a joke,” Professor Blakey said. “A guy walks in, gives a contribution, and gets an appointment? Until Congress reforms this, this is the system we live under. They are criminalizing this contribution.” Furthermore, Mr. Blakey derided the prosecutors’ racketeering case against Mr. Siegelman. “It’s the worst-drafted RICO I’ve ever seen,” said the professor, whose career at the Justice Department began in 1960. “You find as much trash as you can, then you dump it in.”
BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED June 26, 2007
In a bizarre twist in an increasingly inexplicable case, prosecutors in proceedings in Montgomery today argued to federal district court judge Mark Fuller that former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman should be sentenced to thirty years in prison on account of accusations they presented to the jury, and the jury rejected. Even more remarkably, Fuller appears prepared to accept these arguments. In a sign of the fairness of treatment that has characterized the entire proceeding, the judge granted the prosecutors two full days to present them, and Siegelman one day to respond. Repeatedly the prosecutors claimed that Siegelman “lined his pockets” and claimed that he was the “nexus of a pay to play” system. The problem with this is that no evidence of personal benefit to Siegelman was ever offered.
Moreover, now the nation’s leading authority under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) has weighed in. Unable to build a direct corruption case, prosecutors relied on a much abused statute designed to help prosecutors battling organized crime in bringing a case. Professor G. Robert Blakey, a former prosecutor and now a law professor who advised Congress in enacting RICO called the entire case against Siegelman a “garbage can” and “a joke.” The New York Times reports:
The shakiness of the federal case against Mr. Siegelman had forced prosecutors to “adopt the garbage-can theory of RICO,” said G. Robert Blakey, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and former prosecutor, referring to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. Professor Blakey suggested that the charges against Mr. Siegelman had been indiscriminate from the outset.
“It’s a joke,” Professor Blakey said. “A guy walks in, gives a contribution, and gets an appointment? Until Congress reforms this, this is the system we live under. They are criminalizing this contribution.” Furthermore, Mr. Blakey derided the prosecutors’ racketeering case against Mr. Siegelman. “It’s the worst-drafted RICO I’ve ever seen,” said the professor, whose career at the Justice Department began in 1960. “You find as much trash as you can, then you dump it in.”
I really do think Rove is retiring from formal politics, and he's going to make money on the lecture circuit and writing books.
I could be wrong. I through with the "evil genius" label given to Rove. I really don't think he's that brilliant or talented. I see no reason to assume his retirement has some grander, hidden nefarious purpose.
I could be wrong. I through with the "evil genius" label given to Rove. I really don't think he's that brilliant or talented. I see no reason to assume his retirement has some grander, hidden nefarious purpose.
