Birmingham Blues

Perhaps US District Judge Mark Fuller is as fed up with Scrushy’s whining as I am.  Yesterday, the judge ordered Scrushy to wear or carry a GPS device at all times, not just when he leaves north-central Alabama.  And he has to get permission from the court before he leaves the area.  Then again, the judge may not be as annoyed as I; he refused prosecutors’ request to put Scrushy in the pokey till his June sentencing.

I guess the Scrush can use some of his leftover HealthSouth money to get a designer ankle bracelet.

He’ll have to pay $10 million; he gets credit for an additional $71 million already paid in related lawsuits.  I love this quote from the Birmingham News article:

An SEC spokesman said Monday the $81 million “is among the largest penalties ever imposed on an individual.” Investor Ivan Boesky in 1986 was fined $100 million for insider trading, and that probably was the highest penalty, the spokesman said.

Scrushy attorney Art Leach said the HealthSouth founder had no comment on the SEC settlement. Leach added that Scrushy denies similar claims made in other lawsuits in Jefferson County that he directed the company’s accounting hocus-pocus.

“Accounting hocus pocus” pretty much covers it.  Of course, Scrushy knew nothing about it; those evil CFOs were to blame.

The request was filed under seal, so no details of the supposed “newly discovered evidence” are available.  Scrushy’s also asking US District Judge Mark Fuller to recuse himself, but again, we don’t know why.

Fuller presided over a federal court trial where the jury convicted Scrushy and former Gov. Don Siegelman of bribery-related charges last June. Prosecutors accused Scrushy of arranging donations to Siegelman’s campaign for a state lottery in 1999 in return for an appointment to a state hospital regulatory board.

No sentencing date has been set for Scrushy or Siegelman.

Scrushy was convicted almost a year ago, but he’s yet to see the inside of a cell.  I’m beginning to think he’s going to run the clock on this thing, delaying and delaying until he’s so old he ends up suckering some judge into giving him a compassionate release.

The Birmingham News reports this morning that Scrushy will be required to wear an ankle bracelet “every time he leaves north or central Alabama”.  Exactly how will the court know if he leaves?  Will there be roadblocks on the interstates?  Officers on the lookout at the Birmingham airport?  Patrols along the Cahaba River?  Maybe the authorities are counting on him getting stuck in Highway 280 traffic.

Must be nice to be rich.

It will track his movements if he leaves the northern and middle districts of Alabama.  And he also has to get permission to travel by noncommercial means.  No more impulsive flights on Donald Watkins’ private plane.

Apparently Judge Charles Coody was none too happy with Scrushy’s side trip on a yacht during the family’s Disney World vacation last month.  I have some questions for the judge:  Why in the hell does a convicted felon who’s awaiting sentencing get to go to Disney World in the first place?  And why is he still free to travel now?  How long will his influence and his big bucks postpone his trip to the big house?  Just wondering.

Kyle’s coverage at Mixed Media is here.

The judge ruled that some jurors didn’t follow his instructions but that their actions were minor in the face of the evidence presented against the defendants.  Not to worry, though – they’ll appeal.

“We are deeply disappointed with today’s ruling,” Art Leach, lead attorney for Scrushy, said in a statement. “Once we are able to take Richard’s case to the 11th Circuit (of the U.S. Court of Appeals), we are confident that all these issues will be thoroughly considered and Richard Scrushy will be completely vindicated.”

Siegelman attorney Vince Kilborn said Wednesday’s ruling was not the end of the case.

“The fat lady ain’t sang yet,” he said. “We’re getting a new trial. If the 11th Circuit doesn’t give it to us, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to give it to us. I’m confident that Governor Siegelman is going to get a new trial.”

Oh good God.  “The fat lady ain’t sang yet?”  Once again, Alabama shows the world that not only do we have a corrupt government system that rewards the biggest contributors but we also have functionally illiterate attorneys trying cases in federal court.  I’m so proud… 

The public hearing over whether or not to rename Richard Scrushy Parkway turned into a shouting match that spilled out into the street.  Local talk radio host Frank Matthews, a long-time Scrushy supporter, argued against the name change, saying Scrushy had not been found guilty.  Huh?  In what alternate universe?  I guess Frank missed this:

In June 2005, a Birmingham jury acquitted Scrushy on criminal charges related to the massive accounting scandal at HealthSouth. This past June, Scrushy was convicted by a federal jury on six charges against him - bribery, conspiracy and four counts of honest services mail fraud.

There was no decision at last night’s meeting — the proposed name change has been referred to a committee.

The Birmingham News reports that the Fairfield City Council is holding a public hearing next week “regarding the possibility of changing the name of Richard M. Scrushy Parkway”.  Um, yeah; it might be a good idea to name the road after someone who isn’t a convicted felon.

It looks like Club Fed for Siegelman and Scrushy, according to experts. Who knew there were federal prison experts?

Edward S. Bales, who runs a national consulting firm specializing in federal prison, said that Siegelman can expect a prison sentence in the four-to-eight-year range. With no prior criminal record and no history of violence, he said, the ex-governor probably would spend his time in a minimum-security prison camp.

Alabama has two such facilities: the Federal Prison Camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery and a prison camp that is adjacent to the medium-security Talladega Federal Correctional Institution. There is no guarantee that either man would be incarcerated in Alabama, however.

…U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller will sentence Siegelman and Scrushy later this year. Between now and then, the U.S. Probation Office in Montgomery will conduct an in-depth pre-sentence investigation, as it does with all federal defendants in the Middle District of Alabama who are convicted or plead guilty.

That probation office will calculate the prison ranges under advisory sentencing guidelines. Although not bound by those guidelines, federal judges follow them more than 90 percent of the time.

The sentencing range will be determined by comparing the offenses with the defendants’ criminal histories. The judge decides the official sentencing range after prosecutors and defense lawyers have a chance to object to the Probation Office’s findings.

I hope, for their families’ sake, that both men are incarcerated in Alabama. But I doubt we’ll have to worry about that any time soon. Both of them will appeal and drag this mess out as long as possible, although at least one expert (another expert!) says the verdicts are unlikely to be overturned.

Mobile Press-Register coverage here. Birmingham News here. Montgomery Advertiser here. Anniston Star (subscription required) here.

And his lawyer helps. Or not.

“This is the worst miscarriage of justice since General Sherman burned Atlanta,” his attorney, Terry Butts, said angrily following the verdict.

I guess this means Scrushy’s next TV show will be aimed at white Southerners.