The
Restore Justice At Justice campaign, www.restorejusticeatjustice.com,
representing hundreds of organizations with over one million members,
calls on Attorney General Eric Holder to immediately dismiss criminal
charges against former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman in light of the
latest astounding evidence filed in his case attesting to gross
violations of the rule of law by federal prosecutors. Specifically,
the government's chief witness in the case, Nick Bailey, has sworn in
an affidavit that prosecutors told him what to say, made him repeat it
until he got it right, threatened him if he did not say it, and lied to
the federal judge presiding over the case about his testimony. Moreover, Mr. Bailey attested that government prosecutors
intentionally withheld evidence and told him to hide a three ring
binder with all of his copious notes of meetings with government agents
and officials.
Mr. Baliey has provided that binder to his attorney who has shared much
of it with Mr. Siegelman's attorneys to support the affidavit. Mr.
Bailey's associate and a professional legal investigator also provided
affidavits supporting these assertions.
Restore Justice At Justice spokesman Brad Friedman states: "There is
now so much evidence of clear conflicts of interest, overt partisan
political prosecutorial targeting, failures to recuse by at least one
conflicted prosecutor as well as the judge in the [Siegelman] case,
evidence withheld from the defense team, and now evidence of the
coaching and strong-arming of witnesses in exchange for a lighter
prison sentence and a promise to conceal embarrassing personal
information, it all makes the prosecutorial misconduct in the case of
former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens --- a Republican whose case was
dropped by Obama's Justice Dept. shortly after they came to power ---
look like jaywalking."
Prosecutorial misconduct has completely tainted Mr. Siegelman's case. His conviction must therefore be dismissed with prejudice by the
Attorney General himself in order to correct a manifest injustice,
restore integrity to the Department of Justice, and send a clear
message that such reprehensible conduct will not be tolerated. Restore
Justice At Justice calls on Eric Holder to act with dispatch to remove
the stain and burden of an improper conviction from the shoulders of
Mr. Siegelman.