75 Former Attys General Ask Holder to Launch Probe of Siegelman's Prosecution
Emboldened by Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to drop its case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a group of 75 former state attorneys general from across the country is asking for an investigation into whether former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman’s corruption prosecution should stand.
The effort is bipartisan, the Associated Press reports.
This month, Holder asked the judge presiding over Stevens’ case to toss the once-powerful Republican senator’s conviction because prosecutors withheld evidence from defense lawyers during trial.
In a letter to Holder dated April 13, the attorneys general maintain that if there was misconduct in the Siegelman case, the Justice Department should seek a similar remedy.
The AP recounts that prosecutors alleged at trial that Siegelman appointed former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to an influential hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in contributions to the governor’s campaign for a state lottery in 1999.
Siegelman, a Democrat, is out on bond while he appeals his seven-year sentence. Siegelman has maintained all along that the prosecution was politically motivated.
The Justice Department has already said last year that its Office of Professional Responsibility was investigating.
