Thursday, May 12, 2016
COMMENTARY -- Criminal Justice, Alabama-Style - By Donald V. Watkins
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COMMENTARY---
Criminal Justice, Alabama-Style
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 12, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 12, 2016
As Alabama awaits the start of House Speaker Mike Hubbard's criminal trial on Monday, or his guilty plea, I thought this would be a good time to give my readers a primer on the criminal justice system, Alabama-style. There is no other system like it in America. Here's why.
U.S. v. Don Siegelman and Richard Scrushy
In 2006, Montgomery Federal Judge Mark E. Fuller presided over the high-profile bribery trial of former governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. Both men were indicted in October 2005, nearly five months after Scrushy's stunning acquittal in a Birmingham federal court on all counts in his $2.7 billion HealthSouth accounting fraud case. Both men were convicted on the bribery charges. Each one received a long prison sentence. On Fuller's command, they were taken directly from the courtroom to prison. Scrushy served his sentenced and was released from prison in 2012. Siegelman is still imprisoned.
One of the many issues raised in this case was whether two jurors – jury foreman Sam Hendrix and juror Katie Langer – engaged in improper communications with each other and with fellow jurors during the trial and deliberations by the jury. An alleged email exchanged between Hendrix and Langer indicated that Fuller and these two jurors were steering the jury towards a conviction of Siegelman and Scrushy. One of the emails Langer allegedly sent to Hendrix stated:
"gov & pastor [i.e. defendant Richard Scrushy] up s—t creek. good thing no one likes them anyway. all public officials r scum; especially this 1. pastor is reall a piece of work...they missed before, but we won't...also, keep working on [juror number] 30...
will update u on other meeting….Katie".
will update u on other meeting….Katie".
Another alleged Langer email stated:
Judge really helping with jurors still having difficulties with #30
...any ideas??? Keep pushing on ur side. Did not understand your thoughts on statute
But received links….Katie".
...any ideas??? Keep pushing on ur side. Did not understand your thoughts on statute
But received links….Katie".
Fuller conducted a limited judicial inquiry into these emails that excluded any direct questioning of the jurors by the defendants. Following his inquiry, Fuller concluded that the emails in question were not authentic and that any improper communications between the jurors was harmless error. On this basis, Fuller denied various defense motions on this issue and upheld the guilty verdicts. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Fuller's ruling upholding the guilty verdicts.
After the trial, Hendrix and Langer gave multiple media interviews. They were the only two jurors who spoke to the press. Hendrix was quoted as telling one newspaper, "We didn't want to crucify people, but we did want to send a message".
What the public and defendants did not know at the time was that Fuller, who was married, was having an extramarital affair with his married courtroom deputy – the very courtroom official who interacted with trial jurors on behalf of the court. Fuller later married this courtroom deputy.
In 2015, Fuller was forced to resign his judgeship after a Court of Appeals judicial panel probing his 2014 arrest in Atlanta for beating his second wife confirmed our 2014 exclusive Facebook investigative reports that detailed Fuller's serial martial cheating, out-of-control wife-beating episodes, and perjury to judicial officers.
Governor Robert Bentley was one of the last statewide public official to publicly condemn Fuller's disgraceful conduct. Even then, Bentley's condemnation was half-hearted. What Bentley was hiding at the time was his own extramarital affair with his married paramour, Rebekah Mason. Like Fuller, Bentley was also using tax dollars and government resources to romance his lover. The Bentley-Mason love affair, complete with disposable "burner" cell phones and a secret safe deposit box, quickly blossomed into a full-blown criminal racketeering enterprise operating straight out of the governor's office.
No Alabama public official or federal prosecutor has ever called for Fuller to be prosecuted on perjury charges, or on criminal charges that Fuller used federal tax dollars and other federal resources to obtain sexual favors from at least two courthouse employees – his courtroom deputy and his young law clerk.
U.S. v. Milton McGregor, et al
Local FBI agent Keith Baker was one of the case agents who worked on the Siegelman-Scrushy bribery case. Baker later became the lead FBI case agent in the 2010 federal bribery case against Victoryland owner Milton McGregor, Dothan casino developer Ronnie Gilley, several state legislators, and two lobbyists. McGregor and Gilley were accused of bribing the defendant legislators. What the public and defendants did not know at the time was this: Baker, who was married, was having a secret extramarital affair with Mallory Johnson, a married federal court reporter who recorded and transcribed secret grand jury testimony in this case. Mallory leaked this testimony to Baker, who appears to have given this evidence to then-Governor Bob Riley, a longtime political foe of McGregor.
When this matter was brought to the attention of trial judge Myron Thompson, he conducted a closed hearing to get to the bottom of this matter. Baker and Johnson confirmed their secret love affair and the grand jury leaks. Text messages between the two lovers seemed to bring Riley directly into the mix.
When Baker received a defense request for 8,000 text messages on his phone during the time period of his investigation, they went missing. A check on the FBI servers revealed the copies of the text messages were also missing for that period of time. No other text messages on the server were missing.
Thompson also learned that Baker had a secret inappropriate relationship with an unnamed "female courtroom deputy" during Siegelman's trial. Fuller only had one such deputy – the woman he married. An upset Judge Thompson thereafter banned Baker from his courtroom during the trial proceedings.
McGregor's first trial resulted in an acquittal for Senator Quinton Ross and a mistrial for McGregor and the other defendants. Prior to the trial, Gilley and the two lobbyists yielded to the financial strain and pressures of their ordeal and pleaded guilty. A subsequent retrial of McGregor and the other defendants resulted in an acquittal on all charges for all defendants.
Luther Strange's Sanctuary
Keith Baker and Mallory Johnson were never charged with leaking grand jury evidence. Baker was never charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the missing text messages. Instead, Baker left the FBI agent for a cushy job as an investigator with Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. In 2015, Siegelman juror Katie Langer landed a nice job with Strange as an Assistant Attorney General in the Special Prosecutions Division. Langer serves under Division Chief Matt Hart, who was forced out as a federal prosecutor after Joyce Vance became the Birmingham U.S. Attorney. Hart led former Birmingham U.S. Attorney Alice Martin's public corruption task force before Vance showed him the door. In February 2011, Strange graciously took Hart in and gave him a new prosecutorial home.
"Big Luther", as Strange is affectionately known in political circles, is generally regarded as a weak and incompetent prosecutor. He is best known for his unsuccessful efforts to execute Anthony Ray Hinton, an innocent death row inmate. Strange tried to kill Hinton even after he learned of scientific evidence establishing Hinton's innocence. Strange was far more interested in picking up votes from hardline Republican conservatives during his 2014 re-election bid than he was in administering fair justice in Hinton's case. In 2015, a judge released Hinton from prison after he had spent 30 years on death row.
State of Alabama v. Mike Hubbard
Absent a plea deal, Mike Hubbard, who is Bob Riley's close friend, will go on trial Monday on 23 counts of ethics charges and bribery. Hubbard is charged with soliciting or receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from Republican power players around the state. None of the individuals who paid bribes to Hubbard has been charged with bribery. This prosecutorial approach stands in stark contrast to the way prosecutors handled the Siegelman-Scrushy and McGregor bribery cases. In those cases, both the alleged "givers" of bribes (Scrushy, McGregor, and Gilley) and "takers" of bribes (Siegelman and the legislators who were charged with McGregor) were indicted and tried. This "in-your-face" disparate treatment between the Siegelman/Scrushy/McGregor bribery cases and the Hubbard bribery case is hard to comprehend. It reeks of Matt Hart's special treatment for the "givers" of bribes in Hubbard's case based solely upon their Republican Party affiliation.
Chief Justice Roy Moore's holy crusade
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is also a loose cannon. When he is not getting suspended from the bench, he is too fixated on assailing same-sex marriages to promote the fair administration of criminal justice in the state, unless it involves a family member.
Montgomery U.S. Attorney George Beck's incompetence
Then there is Montgomery U.S. Attorney George Beck. The Bentley-Mason racketeering scheme flourished right under his nose. Yet, Beck cannot seem to find the time to investigate any of Bentley's public corruption. Instead, Beck is busy writing a book that glorifies his many years as a state and federal prosecutor.
Beck, who is widely regarded as President Obama's most embarrassing prosecutorial appointment, operates under the complete control and dominion of Bentley's chief legal adviser, David Byrne. Remember, Byrne is the Bobby Lowder-handpicked lawyer who presided over the 2009, multi-billion dollar collapse of Colonial Bank. Byrne is also the attorney who has lawyered Bentley into his never-ending legal nightmares.
President Barrack Obama's failure to pardon Siegelman
As for Obama, he's busy traveling the world and admonishing the leaders of other nations to free their political prisoners. In what has to be a glaring display of hypocrisy, Obama has steadfastly refused to free America's number one political prisoner – Don Siegelman.
There you have it, my friends. Welcome to criminal justice, Alabama-style.
Donald V. Watkins
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Facebook executive who cleared firm of bias donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton | Daily Mail Online - Facebook employees donated more than $114,000 to Hillary Clinton - Clinton's rival Donald Trump received no donations from Facebook staff
Will Mike Hubbard Take A Plea Deal? - Donald V. Watkins - Roger Alan Shuler explains why Baxley's public denials may not be the final word on this subject as Hubbard's May 16, 2016, trial date rapidly approaches. As the lead attorney who tried and won a record-breaking 85-count accounting fraud case against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, I totally agree with Roger Alan Shuler's assessment that Hubbard cannot prevail in his criminal case. The odds of winning Hubbard's case are slim to none.
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Will Mike Hubbard Take A Plea Deal? - Donald V. Watkins
Roger Alan Shuler d/b/a Legal Schnauzer published an insightful commentary below on whether House Speaker Mike Hubbard will take a plea deal, as we reported in an exclusive two-part series of article on May 4 and 5, 2016, titled, "A Conversation with Bill Baxley". Of course, Baxley has denied that any kind of plea deal is in the works. He says Hubbard is completely innocent of the 23 public corruption charges against him.
Roger Alan Shuler explains why Baxley's public denials may not be the final word on this subject as Hubbard's May 16, 2016, trial date rapidly approaches. As the lead attorney who tried and won a record-breaking 85-count accounting fraud case against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, I totally agree with Roger Alan Shuler's assessment that Hubbard cannot prevail in his criminal case. The odds of winning Hubbard's case are slim to none.
The major difference between the Scrushy and Hubbard cases lies in the nature of the government's core evidence against each man. In Hubbard's case, there are tons of emails in which Hubbard asked for money in exchange for things he should have been doing for free in his capacity as a legislator and Speaker of the House. Shockingly, a host of Republican power-brokers gave Hubbard money in exchange for such favors. In Scrushy's case, there was no evidence documenting Scrushy's involvement in the $2.7 billion fraud scheme at HealthSouth; not one single document out of six million pages of records seized by the FBI showed that Scrushy knew of or willingly participated in the fraud scheme. Thus, he was acquitted of all criminal charges.
What is more, a mock jury trial using Lee County residents found Hubbard guilty on all 23 counts. Former U.S. Attorney Redding Pitt, who's is now deceased, presented the mock trial case for the government. Baxley did not deny the outcome of the mock trial. None of this bodes well for Hubbard.
A conviction on any one of Hubbard's 23 felony counts is guaranteed to send him to prison for a very long time. Upon a conviction, Hubbard will automatically forfeit his public office as a legislator and as Speaker of the House. As a world-class criminal defense lawyer, Baxley cannot and will not guarantee Hubbard that he can win his case. The only real tool Hubbard has available to him for mitigating the sky-high risk of a long prison sentence is a plea deal.
Will Hubbard take a plea deal? Are prosecutors still interested in offering Hubbard a plea deal now that they have him cornered? We will know the answers to these questions by the start of Hubbard's trial on Monday. Either way, Mike Hubbard is done as House Speaker and a legislator.
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Donald V Watkins
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