Last week, in a unanimous verdict, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the use of “honest services fraud” by federal prosecutors in cases that do not include bribery or kickback as part of that charge. The specific case considered by the court was focused on the convictions of Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling, who is likely to see part of his conviction overturned by the decision.
How will that SCOTUS ruling affect the appeals in the cases of Alabama’s former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman and Mississippi’s once-powerful Democratic attorney Paul Minor, both of whom were targeted with apparent political prosecution by Karl Rove and the Bush Administration’s politicized US Attorneys?
Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane at RAW STORY take a look at the still-uncertain future in both of their cases…
UPDATE 6/29/10 SCOTUS vacates Siegelman conviction, remands case back to appellate court! Great news, if not yet a full victory. Details at RAW STORY…
UPDATE 7/5/10 Brad’s exclusive interview discussing all of the above with Siegelman on the Mike Malloy Show…
The BRAD BLOG’s previous, years-long coverage of the disturbing Siegelman and Minor cases can be perused here…
Since the 11th Circuit overturned Seigelman’s bribery conviction and since the Supreme Court now says you have to show a bribery or kickback scheme to show this “honest services fraud”, then it looks like Seigelman should get a new trial, but you never know.
If anybody has ever deserved a ray of light, it is Governor Siegelman. This is great news!