
Over the course of 2015, President Barack Obama used the clemency powers of his office to free more than 100 federal prisoners, most of whom were nonviolent offenders who had been sentenced by overly harsh narcotics laws. The releases were, Obama said in late December, “another step forward in upholding our ideals of justice and fairness.” Those “men and women … had served their debt to society,” he said.
Before being sentenced to seven years in federal prison - for something 113 State Attorneys General and the New York Times said was never a crime in America - I had the honor of delivering a eulogy for my dear friend Colonel Stone Johnson. The story of our friendship is worth taking note of, because it ultimately demonstrates how unjust a judicial system can be.
U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller "will not qualify for either a judicial salary or be eligible for a judicial pension," according to a statement just released by the bi-partisan leaders of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. His resignation from the federal bench "in shame", as the statement describes Fuller's stated intention to step down as of August 1, will disqualify him from any further payment for his role on the federal judiciary.
If the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals cannot uphold the law and dispense justice, it can at least provide consistency. That seems to be the lesson from the court's opinion yesterday that upheld convictions against former Alabama governor Don Siegelman by pointing to its earlier ruling against codefendant and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.
Dana Siegelman, daughter of former Gov. Don Siegelman, plans to try to talk to President Barack Obama about her father's case on Saturday in Selma. The president is coming to Alabama for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the voting rights march.
Today behind an invisible curtain, hidden in mounds of legal text, lives an insidious—and systematic—effort to return America to a time when average people, especially people of color, had no Constitutional rights.
I grieve not only for Don Siegelman and his family but for Alabama over how badly our former governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state has been treated in his 49-day round trip journey from Oakdale Prison in Louisiana to Montgomery.
We have shown that U.S. Magistrate Charles S. Coody lied when he stated in a public order that he had "thoroughly reviewed" documents related to the recusal of prosecutor Leura Canary in the Don Siegelman case. Two sets of legal briefs (see here and here) show that Coody did not even order the Canary-related material, so the judge certainly could not have reviewed it.
AS FALLS from grace go, the tale of Don Siegelman is hard to beat. From the halls of power, the 68-year-old former US governor now finds himself languishing in solitary confinement in prison, though exactly which one remains a mystery. He hasn’t been heard from in weeks, his family say, and there are fears he isn’t being fed or clothed properly.
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