BIRMINGHAM, Alabama: House leaders are beginning an investigation this week of the prosecution of Don Siegelman, the former Democratic governor of Alabama, who was imprisoned in late June on federal corruption charges. The case could become the centerpiece of a Democratic effort to show that the Justice Department engaged in political prosecutions.
Republicans strongly deny the suggestion, and as Siegelman enters the fourth month of his 88-month sentence, the case is becoming a bitter flash point between Democratic officials and the Bush administration.
Jill Simpson, an Alabama lawyer who signed an affidavit saying she overheard a Republican political operative connect the prosecution of Siegelman to Karl Rove, will be questioned under oath this week by investigators for the House Judiciary Committee. The chairman of that committee, Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, has asked the Justice Department to turn over its documents in the case.
The department has refused his request, saying in a letter last week to the committee that "we want to avoid any perception that the conduct of our criminal investigations and prosecutions is subject to political influence." On Monday, Conyers called the department's position "unacceptable," saying of its reasoning, "This concern should lead to precisely the opposite result."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/11/asia/justice.php
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
