Death in Mississippi

The arrogant Rove Republican Racket which targeted, prosecuted, and then successfully tossed the key away for Mississippi Democratic fundraiser and strategist Paul S. Minor have nothing to be proud of today. For the last couple of weeks, Minor has been waging an unsuccessful legal battle to visit his wife, battling cancer, at her deathbed. The point is moot now, and the Racket made sure it would become so: Minor's wife has died.

From today's Jackson Free Press:

The wife of a possibly wrongfully convicted Mississippi attorney has died. Sylvia Minor, the wife of former attorney Paul Minor, died from brain cancer Monday night, former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz told the Jackson Free Press.Minor, who is serving 11 years for judicial corruption, is appealing his conviction, arguing that the U.S. Justice Department under President George Bush pushed prosecutions against Democrat politicians and Democratic fundraisers like himself in an attempt to swing elections toward Republicans. A congressional committee is investigating whether former Bush administration Chief of Staff Karl Rove influenced the Justice Department under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but Rove has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the committee under oath. Minor had asked to be released on bond April 9 pending appeal, but 5th Circuit Court Judge Priscilla Owen, who had hired Rove as a campaign manager for $250,000 to help her in her run for Texas Supreme Court in 1994, refused to grant him a bond. The panel later upheld Owen’s decision—despite the fact that she later recused herself from the panel because of conflict-of-interest issues.Minor's father, columnist Bill Minor, called the situation "senseless," because the court may ultimately uphold the appeal—but too late for Minor to be with his dying wife. "He should have been out on bond anyway, pending appeal," Minor said today.

Another Case at Prosecutorial Miscounduct?

Today, in a possible black-eye to the Rove Republican Racket, a convicted mayor in Connecticut, Joseph Ganim, is seeking review of his case for alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

It seems U.S. Attorneys withheld evidence and offered witnesses "sweetheart" deals. With the Stevens case now wide-open, the Rove-Bush-Cheney Administration was more interested in putting political participants away in jail instead of following the proper, ethical, and legal avenues to convict.

Regardless of Ganim's innocence or guilt, the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct are stunning.

In today's Connecticut Post, Michael P. Mayko writes:

Ganim was convicted in March 2003 on 16 federal corruption charges and sentenced to nine years in prison. His scheduled release date is July 11, 2011. The two key witnesses against him were Paul Pinto, his former fundraiser and close friend, and Leonard Grimaldi, his former campaign manager. Both pleaded guilty to charges, testified against Ganim and served federal prison time. In his complaints, Ganim claims [U.S. Attorneys] suppressed "important impeachment evidence" and used "perjured testimony regarding undisclosed benefits to key government witnesses." Ganim claims those benefits included foregoing U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton's sentence ordering Paul Pinto, once Ganim's close friend, to forfeit $400,000 by instead applying the money to other financial obligations. He points out Pinto also was allowed to keep his retirement account and his home at The Circle in Easton. The former five-term mayor claims the prosecution also disregarded...[the] sentence of Grimaldi by cutting a deal in which he paid only $104,895 of the $671,288 owed in federal income taxes for himself and his government relations company. "If the IRS did not approve the actions of the U.S. Attorney's office," Ganim wrote that agency's Office of Professional Responsibility, "I would request that your office conduct an investigation of this egregious conduct on the part of the U.S. Attorney's office. It is apparent Mr. Grimaldi was well motivated to lie in his testimony when the U.S. Attorney's office was both eliminating the Grimaldi forfeiture of $175,000 and the remaining balance of the income taxes owed. Added to this amount are taxes owed on the $40,000 plus profit gained by Grimaldi from the sale of his house which the U.S. Attorney's office allowed him to keep."

Political Activist in the Siegelman Case

Happy Easter! In a brief opinion piece in today's Montgomery Advertiser, Lynn Braehler writes:

"Is it coincidental that the trial judge (Mark Fuller) who excluded important evidence for the defense and sentenced Siegelman ...so harshly was once a member of the Alabama Republican State Executive Committee?"

The Rove Republican Racket targeted former Governor Don Siegelman after he had left office. It was simply a case of dirty politics.

Although we believe Republican and Democratic appointed justices can be impartial, without a doubt Judge Fuller appears to have a strong history of political activism over judicial or legal leadership.

Minor's Request Goes to Holder

Paul S. Minor, the Democratic political activist and high donor who was targeted unfairly by the Rove Republican Racket, is seeking a furlough to visit his dying wife. This time, Minor's lawyers have gone above the traditional Rove Racket goons of Mississippi and written directly to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

From yesterday's Biloxi Sun Herald:

Paul Minor’s attorneys are once again pleading for a compassionate furlough so the federal prisoner can be with his dying wife. Attorney Hiram Eastland Jr. of Greenwood said he sent a letter Friday to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, asking that Minor receive the maximum 30-day prison furlough to spend with his wife, Sylvia, and their children in Baton Rouge. That is where Sylvia Minor is under hospice care at her mother’s home. Minor, a former Biloxi attorney, is serving 11 years in a federal prison in Pensacola for judicial bribery. He has appealed his conviction to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments in the case on April 2. The appellate court refused Thursday to release him pending the outcome.

Complaints of Chilling Effect

Now comes word today, from Fox News, that Judicial Watch, the fringe group that targeted the Clinton Administration in the late 1990s, is complaining that the tossing out of the Stevens conviction due to prosecutorial misconduct will cause a "chilling effect" on prosecutors who target political corruption.

That's a load of crop dusters!

The only purpose of the Rove Republican Racket's political prosecutions was to cause a "chilling effect" on free speech and political participation. To chastise Attorney General Eric Holder for doing the right thing is unbelievable!

However, Fox News notes the following:

Though Holder has warned his attorneys that misconduct will not be tolerated and told them doing justice is more important to him than winning convictions, he's also tried to nip in the bud any reluctance on behalf of his staff to tackle public corruption.
Holder held a series of private meetings with Justice Department attorneys Thursday to encourage them to keep aggressively pursuing public corruption, despite the unraveling of the Stevens case. A Justice Department official said Holder spoke to lawyers in more than a dozen sections and offices at three different buildings. His message to the prosecutors: Push fraud and corruption cases assertively, and don't feel you need to sit back because of criticism about problems with Stevens' trial and conviction. Holder told reporters Thursday he's taking "a hard look at a variety of things in the department" as a result of the problems with the Stevens case.

"Win-at-Any-Cost" Knocked Out

Breaking news from Florida: U.S. District Court Judge Alan S. Gold has slapped the U.S. Attorneys Office in Southern Florida with a $600,000 Hyde Amendment judgement for illegally and secretly recording conversations of defense counsel.

The Rove Republican Racket was kicked in the teeth and knocked out today!

In the case, the defense won 141 "not guilty" verdicts on the entire 141 count indictment against their client last month.

The judge wrote that two Assistant U.S. Attorneys "acted vexatiously and in bad faith."

Gold added, "Initially, it is the responsibility of the United States Attorney and his senior staff to create a culture where 'win-at-any-cost' prosecution is not permitted. Indeed, such a culture must be mandated from the highest levels of the United States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney General. It is equally important that the courts of the United States must let it be known that, when substantial abuses occur, sanctions will be imposed to make the risk of non-compliance too costly."

To read the entire story, click here. To read the opinion by Judge Gold, click here.

Internal Ethics Unit Change at DOJ

We knew heads would roll with the aftermath of the Stevens debacle.

And today U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder took a first step to ending the Rove Republican Racket's grip on the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Washington Post reports: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is preparing to name a new person to lead the Justice Department's internal ethics unit, moving to put his stamp on a department reeling from the dismissal of criminal charges against former senator Ted Stevens and accusations of political motivation during the Bush years. "

Hope is on the horizon for those wrongly prosecuted for political reasons during the Rove-Bush Administration.

Read the full story here.