Judicial watchdog, Missouri attorney Paul Benton Weeks is back with me for the second part of our interview.
So, you were able to get Judge Fuller removed from your court case. Is that the end of the story, Paul?
I decided that in addition to having successfully removed Mark Fuller from our BASS case, that it was incumbent upon me to warn public authorities in Washington that there was a really bad fellow sitting on the federal bench in Montgomery, Alabama -- someone who was totally unsuitable to be a federal judge. I mean, the United States Senate really dropped the ball when they let his nomination slide through their chamber.
So, you became pro-active. What was your plan?
Several days passed after I signed my affidavit and motion to recuse Fuller in the Murray/BASS case on July 25, 2003. It was early August 2003 when we filed the affidavit by FedEX overnight to the federal court in Ala. Then my mom, wife,and I began our 'road trip'.
We loaded up in my car with two big Kinko boxes of affidavits and we drove from Springfield, MO to DC. We took the scenic route and when we arrived in DC on the third day, we settled into a lovely hotel near the capitol. For the next few days, my mother and wife went on various tours while I would just go into the office of each member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speak with a staffer, and then leave a copy of my affidavit.
What did you hope to accomplish?
I was never under any illusion that anything would happen with my leaving copies of my affidavit with officials in DC. But, I was so firmly convinced back then that Fuller was a dangerous federal judge that I thought that whatever I could do to stop him, I should try to do. Even if it was just to leave a record for someone down the road to use in the cause of justice.
Unfortunately, in light of Fuller's involvement in the Siegelman case, my fears proved to be well-founded. While I had known that Fuller was a dangerous partisan hack in a black federal robe, he surprised me by showing how truly dangerous he could be by his misconduct in the Siegelman case.
And what happened to that affidavit you filed in Montgomery, Alabama?
Someone told me that when he tried to get access to the court's copy of my affidavit, he was told that it was not found in a search of the public court files, although its entry into the court records was noted in the court clerk's docket sheet. I have also heard that my affidavit was kept separately from the Murray/BASS case files and that my affidavit may have been kept separately by Fuller. One report I heard even suggested that my affidavit was kept by Fuller in his office.
What would be the significance of Fuller keeping the affidavit in his office?
Of course, Fuller wanted to keep my affidavit from the public. That's why a full investigation of his courthouse is in order and a complete investigation of how my affidavit was kept in his courthouse since its filing is critical to determine whether Messrs. Scrushy and Siegelman were purposefully and illegally denied public access to evidence (my affidavit) of how inappropriate Fuller was to: (1) sit as a judge in ANY case; and (2) especially inappropriate to sit in any case involving someone like Don Siegelman who appointed the public official [former Judge Gary McAliley] who went after Fuller after Fuller became a federal judge and who supported the assertions in my affidavit that Fuller was a LIAR and a CROOK.
Now what?
To be blunt, I do not believe that I was put on this earth to pursue Mark Fuller and I don't intend to do so. That is the job of the public authorities. I have done my part to alert the public to what I firmly believe is a dangerous and unfit man who is occupying a federal judicial position.
Fuller truly sees partisan politics as permanent and continual war; he was just doing his part as a soldier in his political party, in terms of 'taking out' a political opponent. To those who know how Fuller operates and thinks, it is simply not in Fuller's DNA to remove politics from his decisions and behavior while sitting on the federal bench. For Fuller, every aspect of public office is there to seize in pursuit of political and personal gain - period, end of sentence. He proved that in how he abused and ran into the ground his DAs office in Pike and Coffee Counties.
Anything else you’d like to add, Paul?
Just recently, Fuller ran into an old friend in Dothan [Alabama] and this friend said "Hi Mark" to which Fuller coldly responded, "It's JUDGE Fuller" and walked away. Just an anecdote, but one that accurately describes Fuller's 'God Complex' as a federal judge with awesome power over everyone in Alabama, including Don Siegelman.
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