Hey, stop expecting the right to Freedom of Speech. They only have that in America. This is Alabama, so get over it. Here in Alabama, we'll extend your jail sentence if you tell a reporter that you've been railroaded.

This is one of "The" test cases the Obama DOJ will face. The way they handle this case and all the ancillary charges against those that have put Gov. S. thru all this pain will either garner the new DOJ respect or start a big fight with the netroots. The Netroots has been all over this story with the Gov. himself writing diaries at Dkos and other blogs. His support from those blogs is overwhelming. This is not a battle Obama should fight this early in his term.

What else is going to come out? What a sickening 8 years!

Much of the hijinks related to "railroading" of Siegelman,if you will,was, to my understanding to keepIndian casino gambling out of Alabama. It was thought if Riley were Governorof Alabama ,then Mississippi,which is right next door,could keep control of the Indian casinos .Curiously enough,Jack Abramoff[ who had been Missippi Governor Haley Barbours partner,years earlier on K Street,in DC, as lobbyists ]was representin these same Indian tribes fihting over turf as to the location of their casinos. PLEASE go to HuffPo and read the e-mail that ties all this together.The email is included,the very same email that McCain withheld when he sat on Abramoff BIA investigation. Its a doozie.

Even if we can't put these crooks in jail, we at least need to expose them. Otherwise, they'll come back in future administrations, just like the Iran-Contra conspirators got back in power.

This is what will, unless it is squelched, finish off the Republican party. While they may not get an actual "RICO" designation, even the most cursory accounting for the Bush years will leave many of their heads and henchmen facing court, in one form or another. And a bunch of guys getting prosecuted, who are always looking for a chance to ingratiate them selves with the prosecuters by turning on someone else, are not the guys fat cats will want to be around. They'll be toxic.
They will, at the very least, lose their patina of legal invulnerability and freedom from responsibility. To be Republican, these days, and to be constrained by the law just doesn't mix. Renders 'em pretty much ineffective.

I'm a little puzzled by the language here. Sigelman's appeal is "set to begin" before a court next month? Do you mean that appeal is going to be argued? Because first, then the briefs have been written here and second, these revelations can't form the basis for any claim before the appellate court. Only claims involving the actual record of the proceedings against Siegelman can form the basis for claims in a normal appeal. Under federal law, Siegelman would have to mount a collateral attack on his conviction using this evidence, and he'd probably have to get an evidentiary hearing so that he can try to show that Canary's interactions with the actual prosecution team prejudiced him. Depsite the obvious and troubling ethics breaches here, Siegelman probably wouldn't get his conviction overturned based upon this alone.

He might successfully show that the evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt, however, on his direct appeal.