| pho |
AUGUST 03 2007
Did Judge Fuller perform up to the standards of judgeship that the
public expects?
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Judge Fuller and the Trial of Don Siegelman
By Scott Horton with contributions by Evan Magruder Harper's
Given [common] standards of judicial conduct, we can ask: in the
case against Don Siegelman, did Mark Fuller perform the essential
functions that the citizens expect of a federal judge?
Did Mark Fuller perform the essential functions that the citizens
expect of a federal judge? The answer is no. The conviction was a
travesty.
<link to Harper's>
Did Judge Fuller perform up to the standards of judgeship that the
public expects?
..............................................................................................................
Judge Fuller and the Trial of Don Siegelman
By Scott Horton with contributions by Evan Magruder Harper's
Given [common] standards of judicial conduct, we can ask: in the
case against Don Siegelman, did Mark Fuller perform the essential
functions that the citizens expect of a federal judge?
- 1. Was it appropriate for Judge Fuller to handle the case given
his highly partisan political past and his clash with the
Siegelman administration over the “salary spiking” case in
Coffee County?
2. Why, given that a case against Don Siegelman had been
commenced in Birmingham before Chief Judge U.W. Clemon,
ending in a dismissal with prejudice, the federal prosecutors
were suddenly before a new grand jury in a new district?
3.Why the prosecution was permitted to use the Racketeer-
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) as the
basis for its case against Siegelman. RICO was developed in
the late 1960s to provide prosecutors more reach to fight
organized crime.
4. Why was the case built by linking Siegelman to his
adversary Richard Scrushy, the notorious executive of
HealthSouth.
5. Why did the leading newspapers in two of Alabama’s major
cities—Birmingham and Mobile—give biased and wide ranging
coverage of the investigation and prosecution of Don
Siegelman? And these papers had access to nearly every
aspect of the prosecution’s case, including its witnesses and
its evidence. They knew the charges before their formal
presentation; they even knew in some detail what transpired
before the grand jury
Did Mark Fuller perform the essential functions that the citizens
expect of a federal judge? The answer is no. The conviction was a
travesty.
<link to Harper's>
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| __________________________________________________________________________________________ Sponsored by Friends of Don Siegelman 2007 <feedback> __________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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| photo captured from alabar.com |
| Chief Judge Mark E. Fuller, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama pictured at a 2005 law clerk reception, sponsored by the Montgomery chapter of the Federal Bar Association - |