Guilty or No, This Trial is F%$%ed Up

Kind of like Mumia. I think that Mumia did it, and I think that Mumiw was railroaded.

The trial of Former Gov. Don Siegelman (D-AL) is seriously screwed up.

You have Republicans testifying that it was politically driven. You have a judge who is a long time political enemy of Siegelman, and you have the judge imposing a fine for an offense for which he had been acquitted.

Originally, Siegelman had been ordered to pay the money to reimburse the state for losses based on a warehouse scandal. A jury acquitted Siegelman of charges relating to that scandal, but the prosecution pressed for punishment during the sentencing portion of the trial. The judge changed his mind yesterday, siding with Siegelman's lawyers.

Judge decided that he had crossed a line in his vengance, I guess.

Still, the fact that HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushyis going to jail too gives me mixed emotions.

Given the politicization of Justice under Bush and Abu Gonzalez (who ever thought that I would miss John f%$#ing Ashcroft) politics almost certainly played an important roll though.