Hope for Paul Minor

Paul Minor, the prominent Democratic fundraiser from Mississippi, targeted by the Rove Repubican Racket in part with the "dishonest" honest-services crime, now sees hope and possible liberation from federal prison. Earlier this month, several criminal charges against Minor were tossed out.

The Associated Press writes:

JACKSON (AP) — Disbarred lawyer Paul Minor and two judges he’s accused of bribing hope an unrelated case before the U.S. Supreme Court will get them out of prison. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has said the federal statute for honest-services fraud is too broad, joking it could make a crime of a worker calling in sick so he could go to a ball game.

A recent hearing before the Supreme Court has many legal experts believing the high court is poised to strike down the statute, which makes it illegal for public officials to fraudulently deprive constituents of honest services. Some observers say such a move would help Minor and former Coast judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield.

In March 2007 a federal jury convicted the three on corruption charges because Minor had helped to guarantee or pay off loans of the judges, who heard some of his cases. It was a scheme, prosecutors said, to influence the judges’ decisions and deprive the state of their honest service. They were convicted of bribery, conspiracy and fraud, and Minor also was found guilty of racketeering.

If justices throw out the statute, it would be the second victory for the three, which saw a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently toss out all their bribery convictions after finding a lack of federal jurisdiction. Matt Steffey, professor at the Mississippi College School of Law, said the application of the federal bribery statute to a state court judge whose salary and office receives no federal funds is “shaky at best.” He said he believes they would go free if the high court finds the honest-services statute unconstitutional.

“There is some possibility that prosecutors will say the claim is procedurally barred,” he said. The 5th Circuit ruling on the bribery charges means they could be resentenced on the remaining charges. It’s not clear how much the reversal will reduce Minor’s sentence; he got the most time for a racketeering conviction, which was upheld.

Paul Minor Conviction Tossed Out

Breaking News: The government's case against Mississippi Democratic fundraiser Paul Minor was dealt a huge blow today by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Jackson Clarion Ledger reports:

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tossed out a bribery conviction in the public corruption case against former lawyer Paul Minor, but the remainder of his convictions remain intact.  It will be up to U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate to decide what reduction, if any, he will give Minor in his 11-year sentence as well as $3 million in fines and restitution.

In 2007, a federal jury in Mississippi convicted Minor and two former Mississippi Gulf Coast judges — Wes Teel and John Whitfield — of corruption because Minor had helped guarantee or pay off loans of judges who heard some of his cases. The three-judge panel had previously raised questions about federal jurisdiction, asking prosecutors how a bribery charge could constitute a federal crime if it didn’t involve "any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more" as required by statute.

Readers may recall that the Rove Republican Racket went after Minor because of his Democratic political connections in Mississippi.

Mississippi Liar

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney from Mississppi Tom Dawson,who appeared to be planning, outlining, and preparing to write a book while still serving as a federal prosecutor and consultant to the local U.S. Attorney, appears to have shown the world he is a liar.

Dawson co-authored a book with right-wing blogger Alan Lange about the Scruggs judicial bribery cases and the political prosecution of Paul Minor, a Democratic fundraiser from Mississippi.

Dawson has repeatedly said his motives in writing the book are for the public good not greed. As Steve Seale commented on the Magnolia Marketplace blog:

I do have concerns about Mr. Dawson’s role and said so. To amplify, I don’t believe a prosecutor (particularly one with the major role Mr. Dawson had in this case) should profit in any way from the sale of a book or otherwise about the investigation or the prosecution of the parties concerned. While I don’t question the fact that he followed whatever rules are established in this regard, Mr. Dawson himself spent several paragraphs at the beginning of the book explaining how he followed such rules and why he felt it was his duty to the public to participate. One question: absent participation in any profits/pay for being an author, why didn’t Mr. Dawson just make himself available to Mr. Lange as a source for the information in the book?

What we find ineresting is Dawson is now attempting damage control by having handlers boast about an award he recently received from fellow members of the U.S. Department of Justice or shall we more accurately say, fellow members of the Rove Republican Racket.   As we all recall, Dawson has failed to answer three simple questions about when he started to plan to write this book. Why? The writing could be a breach of ethics and involve prosecutorial misconduct.

An Important Question from Mississippi

On Sunday night, the Greenwood (Mississippi) Commonwealth newspaper's editorial asked, "Why isn't Peters facing prison, too?"

Ed Peters is the corrupt DA from Mississippi who we affectionately call the "Pied Piper." Pied Piper Peters plays a tune so wonderfully that he worked out a sweet immunity deal with disgraced and embattled U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee of the Northern District of Mississippi. The immunity deal has been sealed tight and the U.S. Department of Justice won't provide details.

The Commonwealth correctly opines:

Why has Ed Peters, who was hired by [Richard] Scruggs and his friends to try to bribe [Judge Bobby] DeLaughter, gotten off so lightly? It was Peters who federal prosecutors say dangled the poisoned fruit -- a lifetime judicial appointment in exchange for a favorable ruling in a multimillion-dollar dispute over legal fees -- in front of DeLaughter. It was Peters who was the go-between, ferrying messages and documents between the judge and the Scruggs team. Yet, the former Hinds County district attorney has been able to skirt prosecution by turning on his onetime protegé. Peters’ only penalty, other than losing his law license, was giving back what was left of the $1 million the Scruggs team had paid him.

“I find it rather odd that the man who got $1 million is out fishing, and Bobby DeLaughter is going to prison,” [DeLaughter's lawyer] said. “At least in Chicago we chase the money.”

So have federal prosecutors in Mississippi, except when it comes to Peters. So far, six plaintiffs’ attorneys, three state judges and a former state auditor have drawn prison time in three judicial bribery cases -- some of them for misdeeds that were a lot less culpable than Peters’.

Why did he get such a sweet deal? That’s a question the feds have yet to answer.

Two Contracts in Mississippi

Disgraced U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee of the Northern District of Mississippi, who ethnically targeted "Islamic-name sounding" convenience store owners and fumbled the ball 27 times in a high profile criminal prostitution case, has won the ultimate prize: political stupidity.

According to Main Justice, in January, Greenlee signed off on rewarding former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson with a six-month, secret contract only days after he retired.

Some months beforehand, as early as the summer of 2008, while attending an Ole Miss football game, Dawson also met with Republican blogger Alan Lange of Y'All Politics, according to a local Oxford, Mississippi newspaper. (These are the two authors we told you about last week who are cashing in and seeing green.)

According to Main Justice, at some point in the summer of 2008, Dawson, who was still an Assistant U.S. Attorney, discussed the book project with Lange. Then, at some undisclosed point in time, the two agreed to write a book and later signed a book contract.

What are they going to write about? The prosecution of Democratic Mississippi fund-raiser Paul Minor and those Mississippi Democratic trial lawyers and others involved in the Scruggs bribery cases.

And who was the lead prosecutor in those cases? Tom Dawson. Who appeared to be planning, outlining, and thinking about writing a book while still serving as an AUSA and/or USA consultant? Tom Dawson.

Main Justice writes:

The circumstances of Dawson’s employment with the Northern District of Mississippi office were unusual, raising questions about whether he may have skirted Justice Department ethics rules when he began discussing the book project with Lange last summer. Dawson officially retired on Jan. 2, after nearly 36 years as a prosecutor. But he returned to the office on Jan. 15 under contract, working part time behind the scenes on ongoing Scruggs-related investigations until early June.

“It wouldn’t be any conflict necessarily because it was only about two days a week,” [Dawson] said. “But just to remove any criticism of that, I decided to cease the contract.” According to the Justice Department, Dawson was a part-time consultant from Jan. 15 to June 7. His contract originally was to run through the end of June. Justice Department ethics rules advise employees wishing to undertake writing projects to be “cautious to avoid any conflict of interest with their position and to ensure that no interference with the performance of their official duties occurs.”

Looks like Dawson's conscience finally got to him!

Greenlee and his friends in the Rove Republican Racket have been attacked and criticized (including by this blog) for turning the U.S. Department of Justice into the political arm of the Republican Party and now there is proof in the pudding.

We hope Greenlee's irregular and secret contract to a moonlighting writer/active prosecutor--who was joined at the hip to a right-wing blogger a year ago--ignites renewed Congressional scrutiny and catches the ear of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Seeing Green

What do you get when you mix a Rove Republican Racket prosecutor who tossed many leading Democratic boosters in jail and stir him together with a local Mississippi Republican online blogger who rejoiced in the public political lynchings?

A book.

Alan Lange, blogisher of Y'All Politics, and  former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson. who worked under disgraced Northern District of Mississippi U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee, announced today that they're publishing a book about the political prosecutions of Richard Scruggs and Paul Minor.

Lange even says it will make a "GREAT Christmas gift."

As former President George W. Bush is selling himself out as a motivational speaker, his former lieutenants and political prosecutors in the Justice Department are selling themselves out as authors.

To paraphrase U.S. Representative Alan Grayson, what "K Street whores!"

Read the full post here.

Scalia vs. Headline-Grabbing Prosecutors

The dishonest "honest services" crime is now under scrutiny by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the last week, the Court agreed to hear three cases involving this "vague law."

The Rove Republican Racket, which has used this bogus "crime" to toss political opponents in jail , created a legal monster.

And one U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (pictured)has had enough.

On Monday, The New York Times wrote:

In February, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that federal prosecutors had developed an unseemly crush on a particularly vague law, one that had “been invoked to impose criminal penalties upon a staggeringly broad swath of behavior.” Justice Scalia was writing to protest the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear an appeal from three city officials in Chicago who had been convicted of violating the law, which makes it a crime “to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.”

If you can make sense of that phrase, you have achieved something that has so far eluded the nation’s appeals courts. “How can the public be expected to know what the statute means when the judges and prosecutors themselves do not know, or must make it up as they go along?” Judge Dennis Jacobs of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, asked in a 2003 dissent.

The “honest services” law, Justice Scalia explained, says that “officeholders and employees owe a duty to act only in the best interests of their constituents and employers.” Carried to its logical extreme, he said, “it would seemingly cover a salaried employee’s phoning in sick to go to a ballgame.”

The bottom line, Justice Scalia said in February, is that the courts have not been able to define what separates “the criminal breaches, conflicts and misstatements from the obnoxious but lawful ones.” The honest services law, [Scalia] said, “invites abuse by headline-grabbing prosecutors in pursuit of local officials, state legislators and corporate C.E.O.’s who engage in any manner of unappealing or ethically questionable conduct.”

Read the full article here.

Too Many Laws

When the Rove Republican Racket went after political operatives, sometimes they would lose during the first trial with a hung jury. They came back again and again, eventually winning and in some cases losing. Prominent Democrats plead out and went to jail. Others, like Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama, are still appealing.

U.S. Attorneys of the Rove-Bush machine were successful in part because of the enormous number of laws on the books. They can pick and choose what law fits the concocted "crime." (Be sure to see yesterday's post on the Dishonest Honest Services Charges.) In an eye-opening post today, Thomas Lifson of American Thinker writes of a new report:

When there are so many laws that are vague, contradictory, and unfathomable, anyone can become a criminal if the state chooses to prosecute. America is too rapidly approaching this state, as a horrifying report from Brian W. Walsh of the Heritage Foundation in the Washington Times indicates. George Norris, an orchid importer, spent two years in prison for paperwork errors in the course of operating his business of importing and distributing orchids. No illegal substances were involved, and so far as I can see there was no tax evasion going on. It was paperwork.

Two years in prison for paperwork errors!

The plain reality is U.S. Attorneys and their assistants wield too much power with too many laws. And if they subjectively feel you haven't cooperated, they can throw the entire penal code at you.

Minor and the Political Fix

Paul Minor (pictured) the top Democratic fundraiser in Mississippi, who is sitting in jail because of the Rove Republican Racket was the focus of a new column in the Huffington Post.

Paul Minor is currently appealing his conviction and is awaiting a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which shredded the Rove Racket in a series of questions last April.

Brendan DeMelle writes:

[Obama's] Justice Department must expedite the review of Paul Minor's case in light of explosive new revelations that Dunnica Lampton -- the partisan U.S. Attorney who indicted Minor - had refused to pursue an egregious case of fraud involving several prominent Mississippi Republicans that came to his attention during the same time period as Minor's July 2003 indictment.

Minor's attorney, Hiram Eastland, wrote a letter to Attorney General Holder last week outlining "new evidence... that unequivocally establishes that prosecutive decisions made by U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton were based upon political motivations."

According to the letter, Lampton went after Minor, a Democrat, while explicitly ignoring a massive fraud and money laundering scheme perpetrated by several major Republican supporters in Minor's home state of Mississippi. The letter indicates that "a previous undercover government witness" who worked on another large scale Justice Department investigation "is prepared to testify and provide documents indicating that U.S. Attorney Lampton chose not to prosecute a compelling multi-million dollar fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice case against several prominent Republican defendants in the exact timeframe as Mr. Minor's July 25, 2003 indictment."

Eastland explains that this undercover government witness "is prepared to testify that he was informed by his assigned FBI investigator that the political 'fix' was in and that U.S. Attorney Lampton had indicated there would be no prosecutions because he did not want his legacy as U.S. Attorney to be the prosecution of some of the biggest Republican supporters in Mississippi."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/wheels-of-justice-are-gri_b_305246.html

Explicit, Unequivocal Evidence Against the Rove Racket

The ethical lapses of the Rove's brigade of politically-charged U.S. Attorneys are coming out in the open and providing a black-eye to our system of justice.

We have written about the remnants left over by the Bush Administration, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and their lack of ethics, temperance, and fairness.

Today, new developments from Alabama highlight these problems.

The Queen of the Rove Republican Racket, former U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin of the Northern District of Alabama, and her subordinates (Assistant U.S. Attorneys) allegedly "failed to disclose exculpatory information about a government contractor who stood trial in 2007 on arms control charges, defense lawyers said in a court filing last week, citing newly disclosed emails," according to a post today on the Main Justice website.

Main Justice writes:

Lawyers for Alex Latifi wrote...that former U.S. Attorney Alice Martin and two Assistant U.S. Attorneys violated their Brady obligations by withholding information from the defense. Latifi was acquitted in October 2007 of charges that he violated the Arms Export Control Act. Prosecutors alleged that Latifi falsified a report to the Defense Department and sent a drawing of a Black Hawk helicopter part to China. He is CEO of Axion Corp., which manufactured military equipment, including Humvee machine-gun mounts. The defense team ... said they have “explicit, unequivocal evidence” that Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Estes and Angela Debro and Army investigators David Balwinski and Marcus Mills allegedly conspired with trial witness James Oglesby to conceal evidence and defraud the court.“All of these individuals sought to present false evidence to the court with the hope of convicting defendants of a crime they knew defendants had not committed,” the defense filing says.

Now, every case that Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Estes and Angela Debro have been involved with are now suspect. What other evidence in the the past has been concealed? How many times has the court been defrauded?

The Rove-Bush-Cheney legacy is a legal nightmare ready to implode.

Read the full story here.

Pied Piper Peters Entangles Eaton Even Further

Remember that corrupt ex-DA from Mississippi named Ed Peters? He's the Pied Piper who plays a beautiful tune that lures lawyers, U.S. Attorneys, and fools of the Rove Republican Racket into a drowning river of deception.

A quick review:

• When he was law license was being revoked by the state bar, Peters arrogantly said he didn't care since he was planning to retire anyway and wouldn't defend the matter.


• Then after his good friend and co-conspirator Judge Bobby DeLaughter struck a plea deal and pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. in a bribery case, we pointed out the monstrous Mississippi mistake when U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee granted Ed Peters full immunity and only required partial payment of the money Peters earned off the same bribery case.


• Early last month, news reports discussed how Ed Peters was involved with aerospace company Eaton Corporation's lawsuit against another aerospace firm called Frisby for stealing trade secrets being heard by his pal (and now disgraced) Judge DeLaughter. Eaton had a rock solid case against Frisby, until this revelation tainted their case and raised speculation that Eaton corporate executives would be possibly indicted.

Now, this week, the Pied Piper Peters caused an expanding legal fight in the Eaton vs. Frisby case.

From the Jackson Clarion Ledger:

Frisby attorneys allege DeLaughter's rulings favored Eaton once Peters, a former Hinds County district attorney, entered the case on behalf of Eaton. Peters' alleged influence on DeLaughter in the Eaton vs. Frisby case has come up in DeLaughter's unrelated criminal case involving former lawyer Dickie Scruggs. DeLaughter pleaded guilty to a federal obstruction of justice charge in that case. Peters was granted immunity. In motions filed Tuesday, Frisby's legal team asks the judge overseeing DeLaughter's criminal case to release all statements or grand jury testimony made by Peters regarding Eaton vs. Frisby.

"The Frisby litigants are now trying to determine exactly who was involved, along with Peters, in the (alleged) successful attempt to influence Judge DeLaughter's rulings in Eaton v. Frisby," according to court documents. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Norman said he wouldn't turn over the information without a court order because grand jury information is kept secret by law. He wouldn't comment further. No ruling has been made on the motions.

Read the full article here.

Justice in Birmingham

Today, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was present for the swearing in of the new U.S. Attorney in Birmingham, Alabama: Joyce Vance (pictured) who takes the reins from Alice Martin, the Rove Republican Racket's dearest political prosecutor of Democrats.

With Vance sworn in, true justice returns to Alabama. As you may recall, Martin was a vicious and extremely partisan prosecutor.

From the Associated Press:

Vance takes over an office that under former U.S. Attorney Alice Martin began an intensive investigation of Alabama's two-year college system. That investigation led to convictions or guilty pleas from three legislators and the former chancellor of the state's two-year-college system.

Some Democratic leaders have said the investigation was partisan and targeted at Democratic office holders. Vance did not mention those cases in her brief remarks, but said her office would dispense justice equally.

Some supporters of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy have pressured Holder to clear the two of their 2006 convictions in a government corruption case.

Siegelman has charged that his prosecution was pushed by the administration of former Republican President George Bush and Bush aide Karl Rove.

There was one reference to the Siegelman case. That came when the master of ceremonies, Birmingham attorney Barry Ragsdale, introduced U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller, the chief judge in the Middle District of Alabama who presided over the trial of Siegelman and Scrushy. "We are pleased that Karl Rove gave you permission to come," Ragsdale joked as he pointed at Fuller.

Read the full article here.

Firing Back at Karl Rove's Lies

The political fallout from Karl Rove's Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal is escalating.

In the piece, the father of the Rove Republican Racket demands an apology from the New York Times, The Washington Post and Congressman John Conyers, and states his role in the 2006 firing of U.S. Attorneys was "minimal."

Now two leading Democrats mentioned in his op-ed are firing back.

From Dana Beyerle of the Gadsen (Alabama) Times:

In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Rove put his spin on his testimony saying neither Siegelman nor Rainsville lawyer Jill Simpson, who publicly stated allegations about Rove's alleged involvement in events surrounding Siegelman's challenge to Gov. Bob Riley's 2006 re-election. Rove said Siegelman and Simpson "refused to cooperate with the Justice Department's review" while (Rove) willingly testified. Simpson said that's a lie. She gave sworn testimony to committee staffers on Sept. 14, 2007. And Siegelman was never called to testify, although he said he would have. "In fact, there's no indication that the Justice Department has considered the prima facie evidence of lying, concealment of evidence and witness intimidation by federal prosecutors," the Huffington Post reported. Siegelman's attorney, Vince Kilborn, in the Birmingham News, said he doesn't believe Rove's denial.

Rove Denies Siegelman Role

Breaking News from The Birmingham News...

Karl Rove denies having a role in the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Rove arrogantly told congressional investigators that he had "more pressing" matters to attend to.

Here is today's breaking news story:

WASHINGTON -- In an interview with congressional investigators last month, former White House adviser Karl Rove again denied pressing the federal prosecution of former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman as a way of helping to elect current Republican Gov. Bob Riley, according to a transcript released today by the House
Judiciary Committee.

"I had a lot more pressing things on my platter than the Alabama governor's race, and, as a result, a lot more significant things to worry about than the Don Siegelman case," Rove said under questioning by a committee attorney. Although Rove did not testify under oath, it is a crime to lie to Congress.

The deposition took place July 30 as part of the committee's probe into whether that top members of the Bush administration improperly sought to politicize the Justice Department. Siegelman, who served as governor from 1999 to 2003, is free on bond as he battles to overturn his 2006 conviction on federal corruption charges. While no conclusive evidence has so far emerged to support Siegelman's charge that he was the victim of political prosecution, a bi-partisan group of 75 former state attorneys general asked the Justice Department in April to look into the matter. Siegelman defense attorney Vince Kilborn of Mobile could not immediately reached for comment this afternoon on Rove's testimony.

Rising from Political Death

When the Rove Republican Racket fired nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006, they turned the U.S. Department of Justice into a political arm of the Republican Party.

Now, Scott Horton of Harper's Magazine takes a look at some U.S. Attorneys that were to be fired but were saved all because of politics, not prosecutorial skills.

A number of U.S. attorneys were scheduled to be axed, but survived when the White House intervened. How did these U.S. attorneys keep their jobs? One of these “Lazarus candidates” was the U.S. attorney in Jackson, Mississippi, Dunnica Ott Lampton.[pictured left]...Lampton was handling one case that was a matter of intense concern to Republican Party leaders in Mississippi as well as to Karl Rove in the White House: the Minor prosecution. That prosecution was used heavily by the Republicans in their efforts to portray their Democratic opponents as “corrupt.” [It] formed the core of a Republican advertising campaign, coordinated perfectly with Lampton’s prosecution efforts. It sent a message to campaign contributors in Mississippi that they donated to the Democrats at their great peril. The coffers of the state Democratic Party quickly went dry, helping to ensure a series of Republican election triumphs. But Lampton’s efforts failed in the courtroom. The trial resulted in the outright acquittal of one defendant and a hung jury on the balance. That was in August 2005, as Lampton’s name appeared on the list of U.S. attorneys to be fired. In December 2005, however, he secured a new indictment of Minor and the judges. A few weeks later, Lampton’s name was removed from the firing list. The convictions of Paul Minor and his codefendants are now on appeal, with a ruling past due. The appeals court judges hearing the case have requested an almost unprecedented second round of post-argument briefing–pressing the Justice Department to explain its decision to reindict following the initial acquittal and hung jury. They are focused on just the act that may have saved Lampton’s career as a U.S. attorney, and they are suggesting that it looks improper.

Read the full article here.

Pied Piper Plays Eaton's Tune

Previously, we've written about that former DA from Mississippi named Ed Peters, whom we call the Pied Piper.

Looks like he's caused another mess.

Now everyone is asking, "Will the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi do the right thing and criminally prosecute the high-paid executives of Eaton Aerospace?

It seem that Eaton used the Pied Piper to influence a court decision. From yesterday's Clarion Ledger:

[Eaton] the aerospace company alleges former engineers stole trade secrets for military contracts and gave them to their new employer, Frisby Aerospace of North Carolina. Eaton is seeking $350 million in a civil suit. "Ed Peters is expected to testify that he was brought into the case by Eaton, not as counsel of record, but as somebody who could influence DeLaughter," [U.S. Attorneys] said in a document .... Attorneys for Frisby -now known as Triumph Actuation Systems - maintain rulings from DeLaughter began going in Eaton's favor after Peters became one of Eaton's attorneys. Eaton officials called the document reckless. "There are a lot of false statements in here," said Don McGrath, senior vice president of communications for Eaton, said of the document. "In no way did we ask Ed Peters to imply or ask or insinuate that he would do anything improper in trying to influence Judge DeLaughter or any other judge." The prosecutors allege that DeLaughter went against Dunbar's recommendation to sanction Eaton for failing to disclose its use of a paid whistle-blower in the case. "Peters is expected to testify that he recommended to Judge DeLaughter that the court remove Jack Dunbar and find another special master. Ed Peters even took it upon himself to call another attorney to inquire about his availability for appointment as a special master in the case but called back to ask that his name not be mentioned." According to prosecutors, Dunbar didn't hear back from DeLaughter on his recommended sanctions and was removed from the case.... "In short, once Eaton attorneys found themselves in trouble, they brought in Ed Peters into the case to influence DeLaughter," prosecutors wrote. Asked why Eaton decided to hire Peters, a longtime prosecutor, McGrath replied, "There are few Mississippi trial lawyers that have as much experience as Ed Peters."

Experience or influence peddling? McGrath is full of beans.

"This is Over"

Finally, a staunch member of the Rove Republican Racket has raised the white flag.

After obtaining plea agreements from seven prominent Democratic supporters and jailing them, U.S. Attorney Jim H. Greenlee of the Northern District of Mississippi declared his long-term vendetta against Democrats has ended, declaring "This is over." Wisely, this Rove-Bush-Cheney appointed prosecutor sees his legacy coming to an end and an Obama replacement on the horizon.

His plea agreement against a state judge, Bobby DeLaughter, who was forced to resign, was an embarrassment yesterday. White supremacists and racists applauded Greenlee's actions since DeLaughter was best known for prosecuting and jailing a murderous white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan member, Bryon de la Beckwith (Pictured above, left).

According to news reports, Beckwith's son and a known white supremacist were seated in the gallery of the courtroom.

Raising a white flag while remembering men who wear white hooded robes! What a way out!

Read more here and here.

Monstrous Mississippi Mistake

Breaking news: We recently wrote about the leaky U.S. Attorneys office in Northern Mississippi. Prosecutors were relying on the conflicting testimony of several convicted felons and the testimony of the Pied Piper Ed Peters, a corrupt DA who was given full immunity for pointing fingers, in an attempt to prosecute and convict a state judge named Bobby DeLaughter.

Tonight, it was announced that a plea was reached and DeLaughter will simply plead guilty to lying to the FBI. The other serious charges will be dropped.

Looks like the U.S. Attorney's Office finally figured out they made a monstrous, Mississippi mistake. These agents of the Rove Republican Racket gave Peters a free ride: 100-percent immunity in the DeLaughter bribery scandal and partial reimbursement of $1 million in proceeds from the same bribe.

After figuring out Peters was simply pointing fingers and that they truly had given Peters the keys to a "golden Cadillac," prosecutors cut a deal with DeLaughter and saved face.

Although we applaud these prosecutors for doing the right thing with DeLaughter, we only have harsh words for the deal they gave the Pied Piper Ed Peters: stupid, anserine, foolish, boneheaded, dumb, ridiculous, worthless, senseless.

Sex, Drugs, and the Rove Racket

When the Rove Republican Racket targeted former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, they went the extra distance.

Now comes explosive testimony accusing Rove's henchmen of intimidating and possibly blackmailing a witness with an alleged sex and drug scandal.

From the Huffington Post:

The top government witness [Nick Bailey] in the 2006 federal conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman on corruption charges is providing new evidence that prosecutors failed to fulfill their legal obligation to provide the defense with all records documenting witness-coaching....Even more explosive than an alleged failure by prosecutors to comply with federal trial procedures is a sworn statement by Bailey's current employer Luther "Stan" Pate, another Alabama businessman. "Nick was told that the government was working to prevent the publicizing of an alleged sexual relationship between Nick and Don Siegelman," Pate wrote. "Nick also told me that one of the agents working the Siegelman/Scrushy prosecution asked him whether he had ever taken illegal drugs with Governor Siegelman or had a sexual relationship with him. These comments had a dramatic effect on Nick, and, in my observation, added significantly to the pressure he felt to go along with whatever the prosecutors wanted him to say."

Read the entire story here and the sworn statement here.

Double Jeopardy for Paul Minor?

Paul Minor, the successful Democratic fundraiser, who was targeted by the Rove Republican Racket, not once but twice, in the State of Mississippi may finally be vindicated.

His truly only crime was being a Democrat during the Rove-Bush-Cheney Administration.

From the Clarion Ledger:

[T]he 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to allow Minor and two former judges to file court briefs addressing points the Supreme Court made in a possible double-jeopardy case that has some similarities to the Minor case. In both the Minor case and the one that was the subject of a Supreme Court ruling, the defendant was retried on charges in which the jury could not reach a verdict. The key is whether the charges on which jurors couldn't reach reach a verdict are based on the same essential facts as the charges on which they were acquitted.

"We are very encouraged and gratified," said Hiram Eastland Jr., one of Minor's attorneys on his appeal. "It's very unusual for the court to ask for a supplemental brief." In 2007, a federal jury in Mississippi convicted Minor and two former Gulf Coast trial court judges - Wes Teel and John Whitfield - of corruption. Prosecutors said Minor helped guarantee or pay off campaign loans of the judges who heard some of Minor's cases. The verdict came two years after a jury deadlocked on some counts in the same case while acquitting then-state Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. of all charges.

In the first trial in 2005, jurors acquitted the three men on some corruption charges and failed to agree unanimously on others. In Minor's case, he was acquitted on six
counts, but jurors couldn't agree on eight others. Whitfield was acquitted on one count, but jurors split on four others. They could not agree on any counts against Teel. Minor and Whitfield were reindicted with some new charges added. The June 18 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court .... reversed the 5th Circuit and remanded the case to the lower court. The high court's decision said the hung jury on [other] charges shouldn't have figured into the 5th Circuit's decision.

"Because a jury speaks only through its verdict, its failure to reach a verdict cannot - by negative implication - yield a piece of information that helps put together the trial puzzle," according to the Supreme Court ruling. Eastland said the reversal in the case gives additional hope for Minor in his appeal.