Prosecutors To Siegelman: Pay Fine Or More Time

Prosecutors want more prison time for former Gov. Don Siegelman (D-AL) if the judge decides not to require him to pay restitution* imposed on an acquitted charge.

A judge ordered Siegelman to pay $181, 325 in restitution for money he was accused of taking during a scandal involving state government-contractor GH Construction. Siegelman’s lawyers want the fee eliminated, arguing that a judge can only require restitution when a defendant has been convicted of the underlying charges.

The prosecution responded today asking the judge to keep Siegelman behind bars longer if he lifts the fine:

To negate the $181,325 dollars in restitution without increasing the penalty in some other way would unfairly reduce the punishment the court obviously considered proper for this defendant and constitute a clear windfall not contemplated when the Court departed well below Siegelman’s guideline range.

Defense lawyers protested when the prosecution entered evidence from charges on which Siegelman was acquitted during the sentencing portion of the trial. They are now appealing the judge’s decision to consider conduct from acquitted charges.

“There is a 6th amendment right to a jury trial, once you’ve been acquitted, that should be the end of it,” said one of Siegelman’s lawyers, Vince Kilborn. “That’s a seminal argument.”

Kilborn said the appeal will also center on whether the jury should have looked for a clear quid pro quo agreement between Siegelman and former healthcare CEO Richard Scrushy on the bribery charges. Kilborn said it was not enough to simply establish that Siegelman gave Scrushy a political appointment and Scrushy made a big contribution to a lottery education fund.

“You are going to have to go a step further and make sure that the government proves an expressed agreement or you are going to have a chilling effect on the basis of the democracy,” Kilborn said. “You have a right to ask your representatives for things that you might want.”

The appeals process could take a while, even a year or two, Kilborn said. Siegelman has been ordered to jail while he awaits his appeal, though his lawyers plan to ask the 11th Circuit to allow him to be free during the process.

His lawyers were scheduled to file the appeal asking for Siegelman’s release earlier this week. The process was set back when the offices of one of his lawyers, Susan James, was ransacked. James said her office has been broken into in years past, but this one was a little unusual because electronics and bottles of alcohol were left untouched, while the cabinets containing client files had been opened. She said four coins that belong to another lawyer in the office were missing, but she wasn’t completely sure if they were stolen or under the mess.

When the police found out she was handling Siegelman’s case they called for more help on the scene, she said.

“Not only did they not take anything, they went through our client files, that made it just more suspicious,” James said. “It could just be a random deal, but the drawers were open to all the files.”

Update: An earlier version of this post said Siegelman was required to pay a fine, it should have said restitution.