Prison Charges Dropped Against Former Governor Don Siegelman Without Explanation

[red dog 1]

Last edited Mon May 9, 2016, 06:40 PM - Edit history (1)

http://Free-Don.us

This weekend, without an explanation, former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman as told that the charges against him for donating a T-shirt to support the documentary
"Atticus v The Architect:-- The Political Assassination of Don Siegelman"
were dropped and his record expunged, according to family sources.

Don said he was not given a reason for the warden dropping the charges, and said it even puzzled some of the prison officials, with one commenting: "I've never seen this happen before."


Don also said: "I want to thank Congresswoman Sewell for taking her recent leadership role in my pardon efforts," stating that he didn't know if the two events were related but,
"I'm sure grateful for both."

Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell had released a statement in response to this latest situation (Don being sent to solitary confinement).

"After almost ten years, the unjust conviction of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman continues to be a miscarriage of justice and a blemish on the integrity of our nation's justice system...Enough is enough.
Our ultimate goal remains the early release and ultimate pardon of Mr. Siegelman so he can return to his family and once again contribute to the state of Alabama."


Call the White House and Ask the President to Release & Pardon Don
Here's How!
http://free-don.us/how-to-help/how-to-contact-the-president/



WaPo article by Robert Barnes (April 25, 2016)
"As McDowell awaits Supreme Court, another governor watches from prison"

(From the WaPo article)
The Supreme Court's decision in McDowell's case will not affect Siegelman.
He is nearing the completion of his sentence and hopes to be sent to a halfway house or home confinement next year.
But he said he hopes the court provides clarity:
"Everybody who's involved in politics, for the most part, all they want is a line of demarcation.
Where does politics stop and where does crime start?"

Siegelman said his hopes are with a petition to the White House asking for a pardon>
http://free-don.org

"Who Knows, the documentary that's being produced may get enough traction to attract the President's attention," Siegelman said last week as a prison counselor monitored the call.
"It's possible this will strike the President as an injustice and an anomaly in the criminal justice system and he may want to take some action to rectify it."
(I was unable to post a link to this WaPo article from April 25 by Robert Barnes, however it can easily be found by doing a Google search using the title of the article)
"As McDowell awaits Supreme Court, another governor watches from prison"

[1939]

1. One of two things

1. Siegelman is innocent as the new fallen snow and PBO has just overlooked the fact that he has full pardon power at the stroke of a pen.

2. Siegelman is "dirty" enough that the advisors to PBO have told him "don't touch this with a ten foot pole".

I assume that PBO has been given some knowledge of the Siegelman situation.

[arely staircase]

2. I have wondered the same. NT

[red dog 1]

3. With all due respect, it's not "one of two things"

The fact is that former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman did nothing wrong or illegal.

Siegelman is in prison for violating a technicality in the law which was used to "railroad" him by Karl Rove, and U.S. Attorney Laura Canary, wife of Billy Canary, Karl Rove's best friend. and a political ally of bill Riley, who defeated Siegelman in 2002.

To get the complete story, (if that's what you want) go to
http://donsiegelman.org


As far as your "I assume that PBO has been given some knowledge of the Siegelman situation."
The following is from an interview Thom Hartmann did with Gov. Siegelman in 2009:

SIEGELMAN: "I was surprised that the Obama administration is now opposing my position in the U.S. Supreme Court."
HARTMANN: "Yeah, well this is what has me completely baffled...I don't get it."
SIEGELMAN: "Well it doesn't baffle me because with all due respect to the President and to Eric Holder, very little substantial change has taken place within DOJ.
The very same people who pushed my prosecution, those motivated to see me prosecuted, at the top level of the Department of Justice..are still there..They are still in power."
HARTMANN: "I don't understand why when Barack Obama became President of the United States and Eric holder became Attorney General, they did not ask for the resignations of these Bush holdovers who are still in office...I mean, the woman .who initiated the prosecution against you, whose husband was the campaign manager of your opponent and karl Rove's best friend since college...she, Laura Canary, is still a federal prosecutor down there, who's still coming after you."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023955756

[1939]

4. If he is as innocent as you claim

PBO does not need the OK of some underlings in the DOJ to stroke his pen. If there has been an injustice done in this case, would you not think that PBO knows about this by now and would use a pardon to spite the GOP?

[Festivito]

6. unless Carl and Dick remind Obama that they can hide information on the killing of a president.

Even a popular and good-looking president.

[red dog 1]

12. "If there has been an injustice done in this case, would you not think that PBO knows about this...

..by now and would use a pardon to spite the GOP?"

"If he is as innocent as you claim.."???


I'm not the only one "claiming" that former Alabama Gov. Siegelman is innocent

(From an April 13, 2016 AP story)
"Former Attorneys General Urge pardon For Don Siegelman"
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- A bipartisan group of more than 100 former state Attorneys General has asked President Obama to pardon ex-Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who is nearing the end of a six-year prison sentence for bribery and obstruction of justice.
"Although nine years have passed, Gov. Siegelman's unjust conviction continues to eat away at the integrity of the justice system," the former attorneys general wrote.
"Many legal scholars as well as the public at large believe that the prosecution of Gov. Siegelman was a perversion of justice."

More:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/b530c141f90b46b0a9982feba563aee4/former-attorneys-general-urge-pardon-don-siegelman


"would you not think that PBO knows about this by now and would use a pardon to spite the GOP?"

(Answer) Of COURSE, PBO "knows about this"
Who do you think sent then-Solicitor General Elana Kagan to Gov. Siegelman's sentencing hearing to ask that his prison sentence be INCREASED to 20 years?

Do you think Eric Holder made that decision?

Of course not!

It was OBAMA who sent his Solicitor General to ask Judge fuller to increase Gov. Siegelman's sentence.

Apparently Obama would rather "spite" an innocent popular Democrat from a very red state than do anything to "spite the GOP"

I'm through discussing this with you.

You either don't KNOW the facts in this case, or you just want to argue for argument's sake.

I will heed Will Rogers' advice: "Never argue with a fool...Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

[1939]

17. I am not claiming that Siegelman is guilty

I am not claiming that he is innocent.

I do not know the facts in this case and and neither do you.

What I am claiming is that something is keeping PBO from stroking the pardon pen.

Don't demonize the folks that put him in jail as that is a lost cause and why should we argue about that? We can sit here and denounce Karl Rove and call him nasty names all night long. That doesn't set Siegelman free.

Find out why he is STILL in jail and why (according to your account) PBO (and Kagan) are trying to keep him in jail (and I don't think that assassination threats are a real answer). Either PBO "thinks" Siegelman is guilty or he "thinks" that pardoning Siegelman will be too much of a political cost.

[Doctor_J]

16. You must be joking. Really.

Obama has never rocked the boat in his life. He's a bigger schmoozer than Clinton. He would no sooner offend Karl Rove than he would insist on a public healthcare option that cut off his insurance pals. How did the DINOS get cut off from reality?

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. "Siegelman is "dirty" enough that the advisors to PBO have told him "don't touch this with a ten...

foot pole". POSSIBLY.

Is Karl Rove an a*hole? YES. Could the Obama DOJ have looked into this case and determined that there really is some THERE there? YES. Should Siegelman be released simply because there's a Democrat in the WH? NO.

[LiberalArkie]

8. Or 3. Everyone knows he is innocent but the PTB really want a lesson taught. Obama is not

high level enough to make that decision.

[Ferd Berfel]

11. HE's a political prisoner

period

[red dog 1]

14. + 1

[Doctor_J]

15. Or Obama is afraid of crossing Karl Rove and messing with his giga payday on the Clinton

Turd way speakers tour starting next year. I vote for that one

[niyad]

18. please note that charges were dropped for something that happened in the prison. NOT

what landed him there.

[Eric J in MN]

7. K & R (NT)

NT

[Judi Lynn]

9. Thank you, red dog 1. People who still claim Siegelman is dirty need to ask why charges were dropped

That's not something which happens when someone really dirty is released, is it?

Thank you, so much, for getting this information on record here so fast, where many, MANY DU'ers will be overjoyed to hear the news.

[tblue37]

10. The charges that sent him to prison have NOT been dropped. Only a charge that he did something

not allowed while in prison (donating a T-shirt) has been dropped.

[red dog 1]

13. Thanks for the kind words, Judi Lynn

I only wish it WERE true that all charges against Gov. Siegelman had been dropped.

Only the charges relating to Don's selling of the T-shirt have been dropped.

BTW, the reason they sold the T-shirt in the first place was to try to get money to finish the movie about the Siegelman case:
"Atticus v, The Architect:The Political Assassination of Don Siegelman"

To help them by making a donation, go to:
http://free-don.org

[Judi Lynn]

20. Oh, rats. Now I see. Thank you, red dog 1 for the illumination which escaped me. Very helpful. n/t

[Stand and Fight]

19. GREAT NEWS! Thank you for sharing! n/t

[Lodestar]

21. Seems similar to what happened to Tom Delay

Remember Tom?

They eventually reversed the charges against him...after ten years.
From the beginning he called the charges a case of "political retribution".


Nasty political gamesmanship.