OBAMA DENIES PARDON TO GOV. DON SIEGELMAN

[no_hypocrisy]

http://www.waff.com/story/34300452/attorney-siegelman-pardon-request-denied-by-president-Obama


BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - The attorneys for former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman says his application for a pardon has been denied by President Barack Obama.

Siegelman was sentenced to more than six years in prison following his corruption conviction. After initial time spent in a federal facility, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved his release from prison in 2008 pending his appeal of the conviction. He was returned to finish his sentence in September 2012 as his appeal options dwindled.

Siegelman's attorneys shared the letter from the White House with us. Read it below:

The application for pardon of your client, Mr. Don Eugene Siegelman, was carefully considered in this Department and the White House, and the decision was reached that favorable action is not warranted. Your client’s application was therefore denied by the President on January 18, 2017.  Please advise your client accordingly.

Under the Constitution, there is no appeal from this decision. As a matter of well-established policy, we do not disclose the reasons for the decision in a pardon matter.  In addition, deliberative communications pertaining to agency and presidential decision-making are confidential and not available under existing case law interpreting the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act. If your client wishes to reapply for pardon, your client will become eligible to do so five years after the date of the release of the petitioner from confinement. Generally, a pardon petition should not be submitted by a person who is currently incarcerated, on probation, parole, or supervised release. However, you may submit a petition for commutation of sentence any time after one year from the date of the President’s denial of the most recent request. To reapply for a pardon or commutation, a person must complete and submit a new application form that contains current information in response to all questions. Resubmitting the prior application form that was previously denied is not an acceptable form of reapplication.

[PoliticAverse]

1. Not surprising since Obama's administration actually argued for a longer sentence...

for Siegelman (20 years even) when Siegelman was re-sentenced.

DOJ press release on Siegelman's re-sentencing...
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-alabama-governor-don-siegelman-re-sentenced-bribery-conspiracy-fraud-and-obstruction

Solicitor General Elena Kagan's brief from 2009 in the case...
https://www.justice.gov/osg/brief/09-182-scrushy-v-united-statessiegelman-v-united-states-opposition

[50 Shades Of Blue]

2. So unfair.

[sarah FAILIN]

3. disgusting.

Guy Hunt took 200k I believe and remodeled his house. He did community service in the same courthouse he was a Probate judge. Trump is given donation and returns the favor with cabinet positions. Siegleman appoints someone to a board he had already served on for years and years after a donation to a state fund to promote an education lottery. Hard time in solitary.

[lucca18]

4. So very sad.

[Demit]

5. I'll never understand it.

[Dawson Leery]

6. Don was more deserving than Chelsea.

[LaydeeBug]

7. I will never understand that case...I will never understand this, period.