Alabama Deputies Beat, Arrest Corruption-Fighting Reporter

[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.