Recent news reports indicate that Alice Martin of the Northern District of Alabama is one of the U.S. attorneys being investigated by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
Martin is drawing scrutiny for her handling of the first Don Siegelman prosecution. That Birmingham case involved allegations of health-care fraud and was tossed out quickly by a federal judge. Siegelman later was convicted, along with HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, on bribery and mail-fraud charges in the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery.
The Alabama blog Legal Schnauzer is in the process of showing that any investigation of Alice Martin needs to go beyond the Siegelman case. While powerful evidence suggests that Martin went after Siegelman (a Democrat) for political reasons, equally powerful evidence suggests that Martin also practices a second version of selective prosecution--intentionally turning a blind eye to wrongdoing by "loyal Bushie" Republicans.
First, Legal Schnauzer provides some background, showing how Martin was quick to go after HealthSouth executives in a high-profile accounting fraud case but neglected to go after another financially strapped Alabama company. Of course this second company, Martin Industries, had a vice president named Louis Martin, who just happens to be married to none other than Alice Martin. Think that had anything to do with Alice Martin's decision not to look into possible wrongdoing at Martin Industries?
Finally, we begin to learn exactly how Martin protects corrupt Republican judges in Alabama state courts, along with an unethical attorney who has family ties to Karl Rove and the Bush White House.
What is Martin's trick? She sends allegations of wrongdoing by Republicans to the wrong investigative agency--an agency that has no jurisdiction to investigate the crimes in question--and then lies to the citizen complainant about it.
Legal Schnauzer has more posts coming, revealing a paper trail that shows exactly how a corrupt Bushie operates in Alabama.
www.legalschnauzer.blogspot.com
I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and work in higher education. I became interested in justice-related issues after experiencing gross judicial corruption in Alabama state courts. This corruption has a strong political component. The corrupt judges are all Republicans, and the attorney who filed a fraudulent lawsuit against me has strong family ties to the Alabama Republican Party, with indirect connections to national figures such as Karl Rove. In fact, a number of Republican operatives who have played a central role in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (a Democrat) also have connections to my case.
I am married, with no kids and two Siamese cats. I am the author of the blog Legal Schnauzer. The blog is written in honor of Murphy, our miniature schnauzer (1993-2004)who did so much to help my wife and me survive our nightmarish experience with corrupt judges.
I grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and I am pretty much a lifelong St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan. I've lived in Birmingham for almost 30 years and have adopted the UAB Blazers as my Southern college football and basketball team to follow. Also, follow East Tennessee State basketball.
An avid reader, both fiction and non-fiction. Influential writers on public affairs are Kevin Phillips, Michael Lind, Thomas Edsall, E.J. Dionne, Molly Ivins, and Scott Horton.
as she doesn't seem all that nonpartisan if 1/4th of what I have read is true. Also I am sorry that they took your house from you. I can't believe it really happened. Keep up the fight!
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shanti (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 38 comments)
on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 1:39:41 PM
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