Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declined a request from former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman to review his appeal en banc - meaning the full court.

According to Scott Horton, a Columbia University law professor who has been following the Siegelman case for Harper’s Magazine, it is not uncommon for an appeals court to decline a full member — or en banc review — of a case.

An appeals court “usually hears cases when there is a sharp difference of opinion on a panel,” Horton said Friday morning during a phone interview. Horton noted that in Siegelman’s case “there was a unanimous decision” rendered.

When asked what this development means for the Siegelman case, Horton expressed little hope that Siegelman could avoid going back to jail to serve out what could possibly now be a 20-year term.

“[Siegelman] goes back for re-sentencing now. It will be difficult for him to stay out of jail because it is unlikely that the Supreme Court will hear this case,” Horton said.

In March, a three-judge panel from the 11th Circuit Court reversed two out of the seven charges of corruption and bribery relating to Siegelman’s conviction for appointing former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to a state hospital regulatory board in exchange for money donated to a lottery initiative Siegelman was promoting.

The case has come under public scrutiny because of allegations that former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, was behind the prosecutions for political motives. Leura Canary, the US Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama and who prosecuted Siegelman is married to Rove’s long-time friend and business partner William Canary.

Siegelman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Federal prosecutors said in a letter earlier this week that they want Siegelman to serve a much longer sentence than he originally received, even though an appellate court has already thrown out two of the charges against him.

They sent a letter to federal probation officers recommended Siegelman be sentenced to 20 years in federal prison when he is re-sentenced. Originally, he was sentenced to more than seven years in jail.

“It’s evident that this team of prosecutors are biased and hell-bent to uphold this conviction and try to punish me as much as they can,” Siegelman told the Associated Press Tuesday.