Court Will Not Release Minor (To See His Dying Wife)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Sun-Herald (MS)

Court will not release Minor
Appeals judges say he's a danger

By ANITA LEE - [e-mail]

Former Biloxi attorney Paul Minor may endanger the public's safety if released pending appeal of his judicial bribery conviction, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided.

The appellate court denied Minor's request to get out of prison to care for his terminally ill wife, Sylvia, saying, "Minor has failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that he is not likely to pose a danger to the safety of the community if released."

Minor was imprisoned before his 2007 trial because of several incidents involving excessive use of alcohol, including a DUI charge in Baton Rouge. However, he told the court in his request for release he has been sober since April 2006 and intends to stay that way.

"Paul and his family are disappointed in the outcome and in the court's lack of explanation," said his attorney, Abbe Lowell of Washington. "Having spent almost two years incarcerated shows without any doubt that he is sober and safe. We cannot wait for the hearing on our appeal so we can have the entire case reconsidered." Minor told the court he believes his conviction will be overturned and he will win release, but freedom might come too late for him to be with his wife, who has cancer.

Minor was sentenced to 11 years in prison for bribing former state court judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield, who were tried and convicted with him. At most, Minor argues, he should have been convicted of offering the judges gratuities rather than bribes because prosectors failed to show he expected specific favors in exchange for loans he guaranteed and repaid for the judges. Minor, like former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, claims the U.S. Attorney's Office targeted him for prosecution because of his politics. A multimillionaire, Minor was a major contributor to Democratic candidates. The U.S. Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing both cases, as is a subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/755888.html

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Background on the case from Larisa Alexandrovna and Scott Horton (and me) here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3518838

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3156333

[pleah]

1. His wife is dying, his is a non-violent offender and they say he is a danger!

How fucked up is that? It is so crazy down here.

[SheilaT]

2. I read the title

and was saddened to see that a minor would have a dying wife.

But this is the sort of thing that's typical of our courts. You should go to the Democracy Now website and listen to today's program about how ICE let a man die of cancer by refusing any and all medical treatment until a judge finally ordered he be sent to a hospital, where he died about five days later this past August 8.

[supernova]

3. I don't understand

That's easily solved. Can't the court just require that a sober person drive him and he not get behind the wheel, even if he is sober now?