Siegelman Lawyers Seek Special Prosecutor

Investigation Into Jailing Of Former Alabama Governor Urged Following "60 Minutes" Report

(AP)  Attorneys for imprisoned former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman on Monday called for a special prosecutor after a key government witness claimed that he was forced to write out his testimony to get his story straight.

Vince Kilborn, an attorney for Siegelman who contends Republican politics was behind the Democrat's prosecution, said the defense was never told of any written notes by Nick Bailey, a former Siegelman aide whose testimony was crucial to the government.

CBS's "60 Minutes" reported Sunday that Bailey said prosecutors met with him some 70 times and had him repeatedly write out his testimony because they were frustrated with his recollection of events.

Bailey, who pleaded guilty in the corruption case and served as a cooperating witness, was interviewed off-camera in prison by CBS, which reported in the segment: "He told us the prosecutors were so frustrated they made him write his proposed testimony over and over to get his story straight."

The written notes, if they existed, could have damaged the credibility of Bailey's story, Kilborn told The Associated Press.

Louis Franklin, the assistant U.S. attorney who led the Siegelman prosecution, called Bailey's claim "absolutely not true."

"We don't ask witnesses to write out their statements," Franklin said. "If Nick is saying he wrote out some notes, he did that on his own. He certainly did not share that with us."

Siegelman was convicted on six bribery-related and one obstruction of justice charge in 2006 and began serving a sentence of more than seven years last June. Bailey was the key witness who claimed Siegelman appointed then-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to a hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in contributions to a campaign for a state lottery spearheaded by Siegelman.

"We got certain interviews that showed Bailey was changing his testimony ... but 70 meetings is not close to what's reflected in those documents," Kilborn said.

Kilborn said the evidence would warrant a new trial and that he planned to make the request for a special prosecutor directly to Attorney General Michael Mukasey or President Bush. The Alabama Democratic Party, Siegelman's family and Scrushy attorney Art Leach joined the call for an outside investigator to look at the case.

The Justice Department declined to comment on their comments and said it would "respond appropriately" to concerns about Bailey's testimony if they are raised in court.

[usa_911]

We now have a true "Political Prisoner" in the U.S. I would have never dreamed of this. This goes straight through our Justice Department to the White House.

CBS needs to follow-up on this issue. It is not the Federal Attorneys who were fired that we should be looking at, but rather those who have been retained by this criminal administration.

Good job CBS. Stay with this until we have no more "Political Prisoners."

[usa_911]

We now have a true "Political Prisoner" in the U.S. I would have never dreamed of this. This goes straight through our Justice Department to the White House.

CBS needs to follow-up on this issue. It is not the Federal Attorneys who were fired that we should be looking at, but rather those who have been retained by this criminal administration.

Good job CBS. Stay with this until we have no more "Political Prisoners."

[usa_911]

We now have a true "Political Prisoner" in the U.S. I would have never dreamed of this. This goes straight through our Justice Department to the White House.

CBS needs to follow-up on this issue. It is not the Federal Attorneys who were fired that we should be looking at, but rather those who have been retained by this criminal administration.

Good job CBS. Stay with this until we have no more "Political Prisoners."

[uradufuss]

"Bailey, who pleaded guilty in the corruption case and served as a cooperating witness, was interviewed off-camera in prison by CBS"

Why were the cameras not allowed into the prison to interview him? Must be another Alabama thing? That sounds a bit fishy also. Another part of the Alabama cover-up, is it?

[uradufuss]

"Bailey, who pleaded guilty in the corruption case and served as a cooperating witness, was interviewed off-camera in prison by CBS"

Why were the cameras not allowed into the prison to interview him? Must be another Alabama thing? That sounds a bit fishy also.

[uradufuss]

Here is what CBS headquarters had to say about the Ch. 19 fiasco:

"There were no transmission difficulties. The problems were peculiar to Channel 19, which had the signal and had functioning transmitters. The decision to blacken screens across Northern Alabama could only have been an editorial call. Channel 19 is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, who can be contacted through Rhonda Barnat, 212-371-5999 or [e-mail]."
--CBS Headquarters--

Please contact these people and tell them you are not happy with their actions. Furthermore, please contact your senators and representatives about this. You can google their names, then they''ll give you an email link. It only takes a minute. Let them know that you are not happy about this incident. Let''s make them open the lid on this mess, so we can all look-inside and see what really happened here. Don''t wait for CBS to do it. We need to take the first steps.

[uradufuss]

Here is what CBS hedquarters said about the Ch. 19 fiasco:

--"There were no transmission difficulties. The problems were peculiar to Channel 19, which had the signal and had functioning transmitters. The decision to blacken screens across Northern Alabama could only have been an editorial call. Channel 19 is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, who can be contacted through Rhonda Barnat, 212-371-5999 or [e-mail]."
--CBS Headquarters--

Please contact these people and tell them you are not ahppy with their actions. Furthermore, please contact your senators and representatives about this. You can google their names, then they''ll give you an email link. It only takes a minute. Let them know that you are not happy about this incident. Let''s make them open the lid on this mess, so we can all look-inside and see what really happened here. Don''r wait for CBS to do it. We need to take the first steps.

[rushlimpdrug]

CBS I hope you consider replaying the segment along with mentioning all the hoopla after the first play.

Please realize that you would do so much more by doing the right thing rather than to bow down to the chains that try to bind you.

You can see that the good citizens of this country deserve better than what we have been getting for the past seven years.

You are our only hope.
You and Superman.

[newsjunky5]

This is not the first GOP caused TV blackout. When Bush went on "Face the Nation" he made a terrible showing. The first broadcast is live, however they repeat it late Sunday Night(normaly every time) A conservative propaganda company called The Sinclair Group owns that TV station near Washington DC. They show was pulled from Sunday evening and never seen again, to save GW from appearing bad.
The FCC is involved in these two scandals also, if only by abandoning their responsibility, at the very least.

[tomanyt]

Someone needs to look into this. This guy got hosed!!!