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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEmail I received from Don Siegelman:
So sad.
Dear trof,
This may be my last chance to email you for some time. I am going back before U.S. District Court Judge Mark Fuller to be re-sentenced this Friday, August the 3rd at 9:00 AM (CST) at the federal courthouse in Montgomery.
Your friendship and support throughout this incredibly long, painful, and costly ordeal has meant so much to my family and me.
This battle for justice within the court system comes to a close. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear my last appeal even though 113 former state Attorneys General and many of the nation's top Constitutional Law Professors joined in my appeal saying that the law is so unclear that any contributor and candidate is "at risk of being indicted and convicted..."
I served nine awful months in federal prison, thirty days in total isolation in solitary confinement, three weeks in a maximum-security prison side-by-side with hardened criminals. Every step of this fight for justice over the past nine years has been devastating to my family and me.
I have lost my livelihood, most of my assets, and my freedom.
I am now a felon and have lost my right to vote and run for public office. I can no longer practice law. Regardless, I remain committed to our system of justice; flawed though it may be, it is still one of the best. It is up to us to make it better.
Thank you for your encouragement, which keeps my spirit strong. Please continue to keep in touch with my family as this journey for justice continues.
May God bless you and your family.
Sincerely,
Don
rfranklin
(13,200 posts)There is no justice.
Panasonic
(2,921 posts)Obama should issue an presidential pardon, and it's an injustice that Obama has been ignoring this issue.
This entire thing was a partisan witch hunt that had the stink of Rove and his machinations. And evidence proving so.
Why put Siegelman in a position so untenable that should have seen him get his due after Obama was elected. Many years later,
Siegelman is a still a political prisoner.
There is no true justice anymore. Just a kangaroo court going at GOP's bidding, and the worst part is it's still under GOP control.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,240 posts)murder if these were Republicans involved. I don't care if the president pardons Siegelman, in fact I hope he does, but just know that there's political risk involved in doing so. Pres. Bush, to his credit, did not pardon Scooter Libby, and he's taken heat for it from the Cheney cabal ever since.
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)As soon as the Circuit Court of Appeals denied Libby's appeal of his sentence, Bush commuted it. I don't think Libby ever spent a day in prison.
I'd be happy if Obama did even that much for Siegelman, who, as he points out in his email, has already done a considerable amount of time.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)were people who would never have voted for him anyhow.
The same thing would happen here. If Obama commuted his sentence to time served, let the Republicans try to use it. That would drag up Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence and it could be used to show how Karl Rove went after an innocent man. Let them know in advance that a full campaign to expose what they did will be launched IF they make a peep about it.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,240 posts)I'm sorry, but sidestepping the courts, whether we agree or disagree with the verdicts, should not become commonplace, no matter what the party affiliation. Was Siegelman's prosecution politically motivated? Probably. Was Karl Rove the evil mastermind behind all this? Highly probable too. But what keeps any politician, of any political stripe, from crying "political persecution" when they've been caught on the wrong side of the law?
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)It's not exactly "sidestepping the courts". The system has multiple components: Prosecutors decide whether to bring the case, jurors decide whether to convict, a judge decides what sentence to impose, the executive decides whether to issue a commutation or pardon. The Presidential pardon power isn't analogous to the fixing of a traffic ticket or the like.
Sure, any politician could allege political persecution. No one is saying that the mere allegation should suffice to support a pardon or commutation. The existence of some groundless claims, however, doesn't prove that all such claims are groundless. The executive exercises some judgment to distinguish the comparative handful that are meritorious.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,240 posts)shouldn't escape prison, just because they're "on our team". I remember the cries from a handful of DU'ers who were insisting that the president pardon John Edwards in the event he was convicted. I've read, with amusement, some of the posts in this thread. People who think the president can't do anything right, declaring that they've had it, and this is their proverbial last straw. What's even more amazing is that some seem to be admiring Bush's commutation of Libby, but at the time they were outraged, I tell ya.
I think progressives need to be consistent. A common complaint, of the left, is that there's no difference between Obama and (*), but there seem to be certain instances where they think he should be more like Bush? It's just too rich, and one might say, hypocritical?
Time for change
(13,718 posts)Given that they are legal, I see no reason why they shouldn't be used to correct severe injustices.
The question of political risk is a somewhat different, though related issue. I realize that Obama is highly averse to taking political risk. But that doesn't excuse his failure to correct a severe injustice that is clearly within his legal rights to do. Unlike Ford's pardon of Nixon or Bush's commuting of Libby's sentence, Obama could provide detailed sensible rationale for pardoning Siegelman. In doing so, he could not only correct a severe injustice, but he could bring this whole sordid affair to national attention, as it should be.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,240 posts)many young minority men & women sit behind bars, because they don't have the high celebrity profile of a Don Seigelman, or Bradley Manning, or Julian Assange. Why is it Pres. Obama's job to make a "national case" for Seigelman, when so many Black and Latino are rotting away in prisons, nationwide? You can dance around this issue all you want, but at the end of the day, Pres. Obama would be doing the same as Ford and Bush. As I've stated, I'm hopeful that Seigelman will be pardoned, but timing is everything IMHO.
I know the president's constant critics could care less about "political risks", but his "supporters" want him reelected. With the election mere months away, I want him to concentrate on getting retaking the WH. Perhaps, in his second term, he can afford to be even more controversial. But your unsubstantiated swipe at the president's "aversion" to political risks is unwarranted, and hyperbolic, and unworthy of further debate.
Time for change
(13,718 posts)When you say that you don't take into account the merits of the case. It's not just that Siegelman is a high profile case. It is a chilling example of political payback by Republican operatives who abuse their power to advance their political agenda.
As for the Black and Latinos rotting away in prison, Obama should be doing a lot more on that front too. It is ridiculous laws that imprison people for victimless crimes that is responsible for most of the hundreds of thousands of Blacks and Latinos rotting away in prison today. Instead of doing something about that, the Obama administration has escalated the so-called "War on Drugs".
girl gone mad
(20,634 posts)There is little to no chance it would hurt him politically.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,240 posts)and then there's "The Right Thing", the two are in no way synonymous.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Gov. Siegelman is an innocent man, wrongly convicted by the BFEE.
The fact this egregious injustice is allowed to stand should tell us all something about Who really runs America. Hint: It isn't "We the People."
samsingh
(17,601 posts)trof
(54,256 posts)On the other hand, it would only further alienate those who are already against him.
samsingh
(17,601 posts)so the President should pardon him. There should be no political issues.
Brother Buzz
(36,463 posts)Afterward, I'm not sure their would be much fallout.
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)At any cost. You can tell just by reading this board. K&R
coffeenap
(3,173 posts)copied it to the White House requesting that President Obama consider a pardon for him. This situation is insane and unfathomable. I hope the president will think about taking action on Mr. Siegelman's behalf. m
midnight
(26,624 posts)and many other's, walks around freely.... If ever their was a symbol of injustice or political prisoner this case will be brought up over and over again.... Not because it's so obvious, but because it had bipartisan support....
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)It's very upsetting.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)The DOJ intervened on behalf of Republican Stevens who actually was guilty but it was right to intervene because the process was corrupted.
Siegelman though, received no such assistance. At the very least the corruption that occurred in his prosecution should have been investigated, should still be investigated. But I guess Karl Rove and his buddies are protected while they destroy the lives of innocent people.
This is one of the worst travesties of justice, done for political reasons, in recent times. Where are all his Dem friends?
trof
(54,256 posts)It breaks my heart to see what has happened, and been ALLOWED to happen to this good man.
I feel a special bond with Don because we were fraternity brothers at the University of Alabama.
Not at the same time, 10 years apart.
This guy's life is completely ruined, and just because he happened to be a Democratic super-star in a state that was rapidly going repug.
The federal prosecutor 'on his case' (in every sense of that phrase), Leura Canary, was the wife of the then head of the state repug party and a die hard repug herself.
The entire 'investigation', trial, and conviction still stink to high heaven.
Commutation would keep him out of jail.
Then what?
How will he earn a living in his 60s?
Disbarred, can't practice law.
Greeter at Walmart?
Again, many thanks for your comments. and recs.
trof
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)left to rot over all this travesty. I remember how much promise he had for the future back then...and I also
remember telling him he needed to get the hell out of Alabama - way too liberal for that state. what a waste.
this makes me so sad and sick.
trof
(54,256 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)trof
(54,256 posts)We were living there during his first campaign and went to hear him speak at Birmingham Southern College(?).
After his speech he was outside shaking hands. I had my 5 year old daughter on my shoulders so she could see over the crowd. When she saw him she yelled "HEY JIMMY CARTER" and he made his way through the crowd to shake her hand.
We might have been Ships That Passed in the Night.
midnight
(26,624 posts)his efforts to turn a underfunded education system into something that brought some resource to the schools....
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)didn't mention that.
trof
(54,256 posts)And he sure understands politics.
Maybe he doesn't want to put Obama in that position?
I dunno.
Yes, I think it's worth a shot.
elleng
(131,107 posts)if we could.
NJCher
(35,730 posts)Seriously, this is making me very angry. What downside? I'd like to know what the downside could possibly be.
This is an outrage.
Cher
elleng
(131,107 posts)then pardon process would be appropriate.
The process:
http://www.legalflip.com/Article.aspx?id=61&pageid=323
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)elleng
(131,107 posts)Looks like the Governor has to seek it, and POTUS should 'waive' 5-year waiting period, but that may have expired by the time this gets to his desk.
patrice
(47,992 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)senseandsensibility
(17,130 posts)Something must be done about this. I hope and his supporters. like the OP, don't give up. It's heartbreaking and frightening that this is happening in our country.