Lawyers for HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy and former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman asked the court to overturn their clients’ government-corruption convictions on Friday,
saying that the jury’s guilty verdict threatens the ability of political candidates to raise money. Here’s the AP story.Scrushy and Siegelman were convicted in June by a Montgomery, Ala., jury after a two-month trial. Federal prosecutors said Siegelman had appointed Scrushy to a hospital-regulatory board that had oversight of some HealthSouth business in exchange for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in donations to Siegelman’s campaign for a state lottery.
Said Terry Butts of Cervera, Ralph & Butts, one of Scrushy’s lawyers: “If this conviction is upheld, it means in Alabama, anytime you make a contribution politically and later are appointed to any position by the person receiving the contribution, it will be up to prosecutors to decide if they want to indict you.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/?mod=home_law_lefta duhhhhh