Rove-connected judge recuses self from Minor case

[merh]

Rove-connected judge recuses self from Minor case
04/01/2009 @ 10:51 pm
Filed by Larisa Alexandrovna

There were startling new developments on Wednesday in a case of alleged political prosecution of a Mississippi attorney.

Once-prominent attorney Paul Minor, jailed on charges of bribery, has alleged that his prosecution was politically motivated and timed to Mississippi's gubernatorial elections. He has also alleged that there was direct involvement by former Bush White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove.

Surprise recusal from judge

The United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was scheduled to hear an appeal of the case today. Scheduled to serve on the three-judge panel were Judges Will Garwood, Priscilla R. Owen, and Catherina Haynes. This morning, however, only hours before oral arguments were to be presented, Judge Owen recused herself from the case.

~snip~

Judges are skeptical of government's argument

Minor's defense team hired a court reporter to document the court proceedings. A rush transcript has been obtained by Raw Story and is linked here.

Questions from the judges showed skepticism of the government's case, says attorney and Columbia University Professor Scott Horton.

"It's always problematic assessing what's in the mind of a judge based on the questions he asks," Horton wrote in an email. "But in this case, it's clear that Judge Garwood has some real problems with the prosecutions case. He seems to think the theories are stretched pretty thin and he is obviously troubled by the government's claims that campaign donations to a judge can simply be counted as bribe payments."

"If the government applied this rule uniformly," Horton continued, "hundreds of judges would be prosecuted all across the country. And the Bush Justice Department applied this 'rule' only against Democrats, even though their Republican opponents took substantially larger sums of money from agents for litigants before them and were never investigated. If I were a government prosecutor sitting in the room, I would have walked out with a ill feeling. But we have to keep in mind that Garwood has a pretty strong trackrecord of upholding convictions, so the questions were a bit surprising."

more @ http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=15050

Thank you lala_rawraw - thank you for reporting this.

[Pastiche423]

1. K&R!

[myrna minx]

2. K&R. Thank gawd for insomnia, otherwise I would have missed this.

Wow. Thanks Larisa. :toast:

[Peace Patriot]

3. Interesting sign and portent that our corporate rulers are stepping back a bit

from naked fascism--or at least the appearance of naked fascism--even in some of the worst anti-justice systems in the country. Their permitting Barack Obama to be elected was another such sign and portent. But, of course, until we remove the "hidden hand" behind our election system--the 'TRADE SECRET' code in the voting machines, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushwhack corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls--they can easily--EASILY!--return blunt instruments like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove to power. In fact, just gaze at this situation for a moment. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove are still running around as free men, despite a list of heinous crimes that could the circle the earth, while Don Seigelman and Paul Minor are still battling their political prosecutions, and, of course, many other political prisoners remain incarcerated without a shred of due process at Guantanamo Bay and other places, not to mention the estimated one million Iraqis and others--thousands of Afghanis, the abandoned poor of New Orleans, the union leaders and other victims of U.S.-funded military thugs in Colombia--who can't even dream of due process because they are dead.

What's wrong with this picture? The perps run free, to plot their return to power, and the victims are forgotten. I certainly cannot object to a lighter hand of Corporate Rule, since it may mean a bit of relief from cruelty, oppression and violence for some people, here and abroad, and also the chance--slim as it may be--for our people to restore democracy here. But we should beware of being lulled by stepbacks from the fascist brink, such as this judge's recusal. The Corporate Rulers obviously need this corrupt judge for other purposes, and keeping Paul Minor in prison--as a lesson to us all about being a Democrat--may have slipped to a lower Corporate priority. The lesson, in any case, remains--whatever his fate is to be--that any of us can be jailed and forgotten, and our Constitution ripped to shreds, at any time, if our Corporate Rulers so decide.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Just want to add this, about Larisa Alexandrovna: without her and Raw Story,

we would likely have no clue what had taken place in Alabama, with the Seigelman prosecution, or this case of Paul Minor in Mississippi. Larisa is like a blessed lighthouse in a dark, murky, dangerous sea. We don't have many lights like this, but they are life-saving and pretty much only found on the internet. Our "mainstream" press--like the voting machines, owned and controlled by corpo/fascists--has failed us, utterly, in every conceivable way. And a handful of individuals, like Larisa, have saved us from total ignorance of what is going on our country, and in other countries that are affected by U.S. global corporate predators and war profiteers. These individuals, who have become internet investigators and reporters, have done so often at great personal cost, and sometimes danger. It is one of the best and most hopeful signs that I know of, that our democracy is alive and well, beneath the surface of Corporate Rule, and will eventually re-emerge. We owe these people a lot, for their passionate commitment to the truth. They are literally the Tom Paine's and Paul Revere's of our era. They tell us, at once, how much trouble we are in--for instance, that a scumbag like Rove could have the governor of a state committed to prison (after first stealing the election against him)--and they light the way toward safe harbor--the things we must do, the issues we must address, to re-create a good and just and democratic country.

Kudos and laurel wreaths to Larisa, and to others like her who have kept us informed!

:applause: :patriot: :applause:

[lala_rawraw]

8. oh i just saw this...

thank you!!!

[annabanana]

10. You have been a TIGER on this...

We all owe you!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

5. Now this is news to wake up to!!

:woohoo:

Merh :) :hi: :loveya:

Bravo lala, for reporting what the M$M won't. :yourock:

[hootinholler]

6. This is good news. I have to wonder

How many similar prosecutions are there?

-Hoot

[lala_rawraw]

9. nearly 1000

I am actually working on a story about how many. Quite a few

[bleever]

7. K&R.

The importance of this story, and Dan Siegelman's, cannot be overestimated.

[annabanana]

11. This is the first flicker of sunlight I have seen about this case (or ones

like it) since Siegelman was allowed out on bail!