Prosecution: Siegelman Obstructing Justice From His Cell

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Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) has already been convicted of a crime, and he and his co-defendant are in jail pending an appeal of their convictions. But according to a prosecutor on the case, Siegelman’s efforts at getting his conviction overturned have crossed the line into obstruction of justice.

Speaking during a hearing for former Siegelman aide Nick Bailey, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Feaga said Siegelman and Scrushy had been doing things from behind bars to “manipulate events” – acts that could be considered a crime.

Feaga did not provide details to U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller, and he would not elaborate in an interview outside the courtroom.

“It should be obvious to anyone who has been paying attention” to what is going on, Feaga said, “and it will be more obvious in the coming months.”

Siegelman, of course, has been arguing that the Republican U.S. attorney, at the prodding of Karl Rove, went to extraordinary lengths to secure a conviction against him, a popular Democratic former governor. Presumably Feaga is referencing the Siegelman legal team’s attempts to drum up coverage of their claim that the original prosecution was politically motivated. But is that illegal? We’ll have some perspective on that shortly.

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