Alabama Deputies Beat, Arrest Corruption-Fighting Reporter

[HomerRamone]

The prominent investigative blogger Roger Shuler was arrested and beaten by Shelby County sheriff's deputies at his Alabama garage upon returning home Oct. 23.

Shuler faces a resisting arrest charge stemming from his refusal to obey a judge's order to stop writing adversely about Robert Riley Jr., a well-connected attorney who is part of Alabama's most prominent political family.

Shuler, shown in a jail photos with a swollen face from his beating, was being held on a $1,000 bond on his resisting charge. But the judge has declined to set bond on two contempt of court charges, thereby enabling authorities to hold Shuler for an undetermined period that could be many months at the judge's discretion.

much more: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Alabama-Deputies-Beat-Arr-by-Andrew-Kreig-Arrest_Corruption_Justice_Political-131025-476.html

[IrishAyes]

1. Feds, where are you?

[BluegrassStateBlues]

3. +1

[AnotherMcIntosh]

10. +2

[alittlelark]

15. +3 .....

........

[Scuba]

19. +4

[DiverDave]

29. Ask Don Siegelman

where they are, I think he would turn around and spread his cheeks and ask "see em yet"?

[laserhaas]

55. It is sardonically sad that your remark is so true.

Sad state of affairs of our country.

[Coyotl]

43. Paypal button for donations on his website, Legal Schnauzer.

Paypal button for donations on his website, Legal Schnauzer.
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/

[IrishAyes]

47. Thank you!

[City Lights]

44. +5. nt

[Octafish]

54. +6

Calling all cars...

[Downwinder]

2. Doesn't look like Selma has changed much

since King's march.

[gopiscrap]

18. no shit

[IrishAyes]

20. Even if Selma itself hasn't changed all that much since King's march,

and the nation hasn't changed anywhere near enough, take heart anyway; historians etc date that march as the beginning of increasing awareness in the public's mind of the need for equal civil rights. The sight of innocent, nonviolent protest in the face of savage abuse served as a wake up call to many. They had to face what was going on. Anyone who's never seen the movie 'The Long Walk Home' with Whoopi Goldberg really should watch it. She can be a cut-up comic but she's also an incredible actress and even singer when she's not playing a nun. Once long ago on the Carol Burnett Show, I heard Whoopi sing for real. It was every bit as good as Odetta or Tracy Chapman.

[BluegrassStateBlues]

4. K&R for exposure. nt

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

5. What's next for this guy down in Alabama,

banjo music?

[GReedDiamond]

6. KnR...

...and, as already mentioned above, where is the DOJ?

[Jackpine Radical]

27. Why should the DOJ intervene? They have no business there.

After all, there were no allegations he was growing medical marijuana in his garage, were there?

[GReedDiamond]

32. Good point...nt

[Coyotl]

38. DOJ has jurisdiction over the entire nation.

And they have intervened in Alabama before, to enforce desegregation, for example.

Are you supporting George Wallace now? Or would you rather retract that silly comment?

[Jackpine Radical]

40. Wow.

I was deriding the DOJ for focusing so much attention on weed busts.

You have just provided another outstanding example of Poe's Law. Thanks.

[BronxBoy]

41. He was being sarcastic. N/T

[Ranchemp.]

7. Sounds like the cops and the judge need to be investigated for

violation of civil rights and the cops for assault and battery with great bodily harm and oppression under the color of badge.

This would be a perfect case for the Dept. of Justice to investigate.

[Enthusiast]

45. It would be a perfect case for the DOJ.

They won't do a thing.

[pitbullgirl1965]

8. Aside from the police brutality and wrongful arrest

which are terrible by themselves: Shuler faces a resisting arrest charge stemming from his refusal to obey a judge's order to stop writing adversely about Robert Riley Jr., a well-connected attorney who is part of Alabama's most prominent political family.
This is even legal?! How can he do this?

[Ranchemp.]

9. He can't,

it's violation of his 1st Amendment right, at worse, it's a civil case, not criminal.

[Hosnon]

33. I think we need more details.

After all, it could have been libelous.

[pitbullgirl1965]

42. True, but doesn't the victim have to file a suit against them?

Like when the National Enquirer prints libelous articles as far as I know they have to be taken to court by the offended party right

[starroute]

11. This grows directly out of the Don Siegelman case

Rob Riley -- the son of former Governor Bob Riley -- was allegedly at the center of the dirty dealings that got Siegelman prosecuted. There were also rumors of unseemly business dealings and of selling access to his father, and though nothing was ever proven, it looks like Shuler has stayed on the younger Riley's trail.

I would also bet that the "former judge in another state" mentioned in the article is Oliver Diaz of Mississippi, who was hit with trumped-up fraud and bribery charges in a case that sent lawyer Paul Minor to prison. Add in the Karl Rove connection and what's happening to Shuler now is not only dirty -- it's dirt that goes deeper than you can imagine.

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2008/04/oliver-diaz-witness-to-political.html

April 15, 2008
Oliver Diaz: Witness to Political Prosecution

We noted in a recent post that Larisa Alexandrovna's story and interview with Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz is one of the most important pieces of journalism to come out on the evolving Bush Justice Department scandal.

Alexandrovna's piece at Raw Story is an in-depth look at a man who was one of the first targets of the Bush Justice machine. And here is what makes the Diaz story so fascinating: He was indicted twice by the feds, and he was acquitted both times. A study of the Diaz case shows that the charges against him were preposterously weak. That prosecutors moved ahead with them anyway adds consider fuel to the notion that justice in the Age of Bush is motivated by politics, not facts and law.

What else makes the Diaz story fascinating? He was a Republican and served as such in the Mississippi Legislature. Diaz' apparent crime is that he worked in a bipartisan way in the legislature and he did not properly toe the "pro business" line once he was a state judge. And nothing made Diaz a target to the Bush Republicans like his friendship with trial lawyer and Democratic donor Paul Minor.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Diaz_placeholder_0408.html

Mississippi Justice: Bush US Attorney targeted my wife, supporters and friends
Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: Wednesday April 9, 2008

In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY, a former Mississippi Republican state legislator who was later backed by Democrats to win a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court discussed political prosecutions and what he sees as the corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice.

Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. was indicted in 2003 on charges relating to his receipt of a loan guarantee from trial lawyer Paul Minor -- a personal friend and the largest Democratic donor in Mississippi -- to help defray campaign debts. A Bush-appointed US Attorney, Dunnica Lampton, brought charges of bribery against Diaz, Minor and two other Mississippi judges.

Diaz was acquitted of all those charges. A jury acquitted Minor of the charges related to Diaz, but was unable to reach a verdict on other charges. Within days of his acquittal, Diaz was indicted a second time. He was again acquitted.

[Octafish]

24. It gets sicker. Remember the US Attorney who was arrested after soliciting sex online with a minor?

A family man, John Atchison promised what he thought was the 5-year old girl's mother he wouldn' t hurt the child -- stating he'd done it before. In reality, he was corresponding with an undercover deputy in Michigan. He showed up at the airport with toys. Originally from Alabama, the guy was a riser in the Dixie GOP. Like so many of the evil ilk, after his arrest he tried suicide in jail, the second time successfully.

I wondered if he was friends with Bob Riley, Mark Fuller and the rest of the Alabama Old GOP Boys. What turned up:

The Strange Tale of a Pedophile in the U.S. Justice Department

Legal Schnauzer, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

The U.S. Department of Justice generated plenty of strange stories during the George W. Bush years. But one of the strangest involved John David "Roy" Atchison, an assistant U.S. attorney in Pensacola, Florida, who committed suicide after being caught in a pedophilia sting in Detroit.

Atchison's sad story has many connections to Birmingham and Alabama. And it raises this question: How did a guy with a shaky work record and a history of run-ins with the law get hired by the world's supposedly foremost crime-fighting organization? Did Atchison attain his lofty position because he had connections to powerful figures in the Alabama legal world?

Investigative journalist Margie Burns examines these questions, and much more, in a series of posts about the Atchison case at her blog, margieburns.com.

Burns begins with the actions that turned Atchison into a national figure in fall 2007:

This is not the story of a man who engaged in pedophilia for years or decades before being caught. It is the story of a man whipsawed by the strain of living up to a high-achieving family rooted in Birmingham, Ala., whose high-functioning connections assisted him for years in developing a career for which he turned out not to be suited. On Sept. 16, 2007, Assistant U.S. Attorney John David Roy Atchison, serving as a federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Florida, was arrested on credible charges of basically pedophilia. Atchison committed suicide in federal prison Oct. 5.

A dead pedophile might not sound like a tragedy. But Atchison was thought to be participating in a pedophile ring, and his death removed a useful informant from law enforcement resources. The question of how he was enabled to kill himself rather than being preserved for justice is one of the loose ends left hanging in his case.

CONTINUED 'though I wish it didn't...

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2010/09/strange-tale-of-pedophile-in-us-justice.html

Margie Burns detailed how the guy rose up through the GOP ranks, warts and all. When this is the kind of person putting people behind bars on behalf of Uncle Sam, these are worse than NAZI times.

PS: Only raising awareness of Legal Schnauzer's plight can protect him from these satanic warmongers and traitors. Obviously in Alabama and the United States of America 2013 can't.

[Enthusiast]

48. OMG!

[lpbk2713]

12. Looks like that court deserves some contempt.

"Do things my way or I'll send some goons to your house to kick the shit out of you."


Sounds like the wild west. Does the judge hold court in the local saloon too?

[ck4829]

13. This needs to be front page.

[Octafish]

25. Truth is what Democracy craves.

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/

[blackspade]

14. That is some corrupt shit there.

[Katashi_itto]

16. K&R

[Th1onein]

17. The judge is an idiot. Should be thrown off the bench.

You can't order a reporter to stop writing about something, or someone. Just can't do it. It's unconstitutional on it's face.

[etherealtruth]

21. How is this even possible?

I don't doubt it ... I am simply so astounded and horrified as to how this coukld occur.

[Coyotl]

35. They stole Don Siegelman's election and threw him in jail, no repercussions = they can do anything.

And those who did this are still climbing the power ladder in the GOP.

[etherealtruth]

37. It is truly horrifying n/t

[Coyotl]

39. And Riley's father is the one who stole the election!

And thus served two terms as governor of Alabama.

If only this were literally true:



He stole the election after the voters were wise enough to elect Siegelman.

[jsr]

22. What corruption?

[Octafish]

23. ORDERED TO STOP WRITING? Legal Schnauzer is why so many know about Don Siegelman, Rove, Riley...

Liberty Duke Paid A Heavy Price In Quickie Divorce That Followed Extramarital Affair With Rob Riley

Thursday, October 24, 2013

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S9I6lkP7VX0/UmcsnlYBUZI/AAAAAAAAFyE/1eEm-5J6GJo/s200/Liberty+Duke+Photo4.jpg
Liberty Duke

Alabama lobbyist Liberty Duke lost her interest in the marital home, waived all right to alimony, and agreed to pay all credit-card debts in her 2006 divorce, court documents show.

Sources tell Legal Schnauzer that the divorce came in the same general time frame as Liberty Duke's extramarital affair with Homewood attorney Rob Riley, the son of former two-term Republican Governor Bob Riley.

Duke and Rob Riley are suing my wife, this blog, and me, claiming that my reporting on their affair is false and defamatory. But court filings suggest that Liberty Duke's misconduct, of some sort, precipitated her divorce and put her in a weak bargaining position.

William Joseph Duke initiated the divorce on February 27, 2006, and the case was over in roughly five weeks--even though the couple was married 14 years, had two children, and owned a home. The husband filed the case in Talladega County, even though the couple lived in Chilton County. Talladega is known as an Alabama jurisdiction where divorces can be obtained quickly, and court filings are likely to be kept away from prying eyes in the home county.

A divorce agreement the couple reached illustrates the weak position in which Liberty Duke found herself. (See the full document at the end of this post.) Consider what happened with the Dukes' house, from the agreement:

2. Property
2.1 Real Estate
2.1.1--The parties jointly own real estate located at 1155 County Road 368, Verbena, AL 36091 (the House.) The Wife will convey to the Husband all of her right, title, and interest in the House by quitclaim deed. The Husband will have all rights to escrow account. Until August 31, 2006, the Wife will reside in the House and pay all expenses related to the House, including without limitation the mortgage. On or before such date, the Wife will vacate the House. After the Wife vacates, the Wife's obligation to pay the expenses of the House will stop.

We don't know how much the Dukes had invested in the house, but Liberty Duke gave up her share.

CONTINUED...

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/

ORDERED TO STOP WRITING? IN AMERICA? WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eleanors38]

26. Alabama's power structure is aware of the DOJ & MSM, and acted accordingly.

[Octafish]

28. If you care about Don Siegelman, you'll keep this OP kicked until he's out of prison and Rove's in.

Know your BFEE: Siegelman Judge is a big-time War Profiteer

U.S. Judge Mark E. Fuller, the guy who helped railroad Gov. Don Siegelman.



Fuller just happens to be the owner of a company that's made a huge fortune off the Pentagon and War Inc via no-bid crony War on Terror largesse.

The Pork Barrel World of Judge Mark Fuller

By Scott Horton
Harper's August 6, 2007, 5:14 pm

For the last week, we’ve been examining the role played by Judge Mark Everett Fuller in the trial, conviction, and sentencing of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman. Today, we examine a post-trial motion, filed in April 2007, asking Fuller to recuse himself based on his extensive private business interests, which turn very heavily on contracts with the United States Government, including the Department of Justice.

The recusal motion rested upon details about Fuller’s personal business interests. On February 22, 2007, defense attorneys obtained information that Judge Fuller held a controlling 43.75% interest in government contractor Doss Aviation, Inc. After investigating these claims for over a month, the attorneys filed a motion for Fuller’s recusal on April 18, 2007. The motion stated that Fuller’s total stake in Doss Aviation was worth between $1-5 million, and that Fuller’s income from his stock for 2004 was between $100,001 and $1 million dollars.

In other words, Judge Fuller likely made more from his business income, derived from U.S. Government contracts, than as a judge. Fuller is shown on one filing as President of the principal business, Doss Aviation, and his address is shown as One Church Street, Montgomery, Alabama, the address of the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse, in which his chambers are located.

SNIP...

Doss Aviation and its subsidiaries also held contracts with the FBI. This is problematic when one considers that FBI agents were present at Siegelman’s trial, and that Fuller took the extraordinary step of inviting them to sit at counsel’s table throughout trial. Moreover, while the case was pending, Doss Aviation received a $178 million contract from the federal government.

CONTINUED...

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/08/hbc-90000762

There's a special place for Judge Fuller, and it's not on the bench. Currently, for some reason in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution but of benefit to Karl Rove and the BFEE, Legal Schnauzer rots there.

[msanthrope]

30. Mr. Shuler needs to hire an attorney, and stop doing his own lawyering. Having read

what lead to his arrest, I will say that I wish him the best, and he needs legal representation to keep this from happening again.

[Octafish]

31. One of the few people to stand up against Rove and the BFEE in Alabama and that's what you say?

Shuler stood up for Don Siegelman and spelled out Who, How and Why the BFEE were destroying the Democratic governor. Shuler even spelled out how the defense had conflicts.

You are an attorney, msanthrope. Didn't you know about those things?

[msanthrope]

34. Yes--he needs a lawyer--and you're a little late to the party. On the thread about this, YESTERDAY,

I was the first to rec and kick.

Shuler needs an attorney. That is a damn fact. You do like the 6th amendment as much as you like the 1st, right?

Now, I get that you might be upset over our last thread together, but ease up on the choke, yeah?

[Coyotl]

36. Calling Scott Horton.

The one other reporter covering the same issues is Scott Horton, writing in his No Comment blog at Harpers. Hopefully, this will get his attention refocused back on Alabama politics. It has been a while since we heard form him on the topic:

http://harpers.org/blog/2012/09/boss-roves-justice/
No Comment — September 13, 2012, 2:24 pm
Boss Rove’s Justice
By Scott Horton

“There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember the second.” That quip was offered by Mark Hanna during the first modern professional presidential campaign, that of William McKinley in 1896. But it could just as easily have been voiced by Hanna’s modern understudy, Karl Rove, the man who emerged as the undeniable mastermind of the G.O.P. following their recent convention in Tampa. As Rove understands it, electoral politics has little to do with policy and everything to do with money—in particular with ensuring that his side has a massive advantage over its adversary.

From early in his career, Rove’s game plan was to tap the tills of corporate America by pushing “tort reform,” which is to say, stacking the deck against tort lawyers by electing Republican judges in state court elections. In Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and other states around the nation, this tactic served to fill the coffers of a flagging Republican Party and to bolster its electoral efforts across the board. Rove’s agenda focused on the rapid appointment of a particular species of judge and prosecutor characterized less by their experience in the courts than their history in Republican Party politics. The last decade witnessed the gradual emergence of a Rovian judiciary—overwhelmingly Republican, usually appointed by the Bush White House under Rove’s strategic guidance. For a Rovian judge, it’s an article of faith that corporations and the truly wealthy who control them have the right to contribute without limit to the Republican Party candidates of their choice. This, apparently, is the true meaning of the First Amendment. Citizens United marked the triumph of this program, and that ruling benefited no single individual more than Boss Rove. Indeed it has already transformed American politics from a bid for votes to a scramble for billionaires.

But Rove’s focus on money has been twofold: the object is not simply to raise it but also to thwart the fundraising capacity of the opponent. And that brings us to the plight of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who this week returned to the federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, to serve a seven-year sentence. What precisely was Siegelman’s crime? A foundation associated with Siegelman that supported his effort to secure a state lottery for education in Alabama received a $500,000 donation from Richard Scrushy, the CEO of insurance giant HealthSouth. Siegelman reappointed Scrushy to the same non-compensated state board to which three prior governors had appointed him. Federal prosecutors argued, and ultimately convinced a jury, that Siegelman should go to prison for this donation, even though he received no personal benefit from it.

Though it may be distasteful, the appointment of campaign donors to high offices belongs to the rough-and-tumble of American electoral politics. Karl Rove is the undisputed master of this practice; ..........

For more insight into this case, Google this: Siegelman "Scott Horton" site:democraticunderground.com

https://www.google.com/search?q=Siegelman+%22Scott+Horton%22+site%3Ademocraticunderground.com

[Rex]

46. Mr. Holder should say something about this.

Evidently the 'Sheriff system' in this country is running amok and nobody is doing a thing about it.

[Enthusiast]

49. LOL.

[Enthusiast]

50. Kicked and recommended.

I hate injustice. Justice is the foundation of our nation.

[Coyotl]

51. New OP to REC: Can You Help an Alabama Political Prisoner / Don Siegelman Defender?

Can You Help an Alabama Political Prisoner / Don Siegelman Defender?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023928067

[Snarkoleptic]

52. Roger Shuler has a youtube channel with

lots of interesting stuff from interviews with Rob Riley to stuff that's even more tawdry.
I'm guessing the Alabama pugs don't want these videos to be watched/shared.

https://www.youtube.com/user/rshuler3156/videos

[Coyotl]

53. Shuler outs Judge Bill Pryor's nude photos: Underneath His Robes = Nude Photos Of A Federal Judge?

I have to ask, "Does Shuler's beating has anything to do with this?"

http://abovethelaw.com/2013/09/underneath-his-robes-nude-photos-of-a-federal-judge/#more-272088

18 Sep 2013 at 3:38 PM
11th Circuit, Federal Judges, Gay, Pictures, Pornography, William Pryor

Underneath His Robes: Nude Photos Of A Federal Judge?
By Staci Zaretsky

Circles around the water coolers in offices of the federal judiciary are very busy today. It seems that a rumor is circulating about a prominent conservative judge who allegedly posed for nude photographs before heading to law school. The photos, which made their way to badpuppy.com, one of the largest gay pornography sites on the worldwide web, depict a handsome young man staring into the camera, expressionless, his genitalia fully exposed.......

The judge implicated in this affair is William Holcombe Pryor Jr. of the Eleventh Circuit, who also serves on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Though we have no way to confirm if the accusations are true, we can’t help but notice a possible resemblance between Judge Pryor and the attractive young man in the pictures (meaning that Judge Pryor is quite the judicial superhottie).

The allegations have been made by Roger Shuler of Legal Schnauzer, who claims the following: ...........