Barring anything unforseen (which may be going out on a limb) former Governor Don Siegelman and businessman Richard Scrushy will learn their sentences today. Chief District Judge Mark Fuller is scheduled to get things started around 8:30 a.m.
There will be more discussion of upward and downward departure from the guidelines - that is the government wanting a sentence above what the guidelines suggest and the defendants wanting below those same guidelines. We will later hear more character witness.
The judge has now taken the bench.
Fuller - We ended yesterday, we were taking up various motions on upward departures or variances and downward departures and variances.
Susan James - "The court can consider a combination of factors...this is precisely that case...especially in light of the court's judgement that acquitted conduct...can be considered....We do have an individual that has been humbled by this ordeal...We request a downward departure based on business destruction...Gov. Siegelman although a public servant for the bulk of his life is a licensed attorney...He was very successful in doing that...Bobby Seagall indicated the governor's lowest priority was money...He has continued to work as an attorney. He is counsel for the Alabama Sheriff's Association...We don't know what the Bar will do...We believe this is something the court can consider and we believe a departure should be granted for that reason...This defendant will be vulnerable in prison...Prior to becoming a lawyer I worked for the federal prison system for eight years. I have had the opportunity to deal with inmates...He had a particularly tough position on crimes and violence....He worked with Judge Carnes in passing some of the most hard crime legislation....If you impose the sentence...It is not likely that Gov. Siegelman would be assigned to a prison camp...I believe their cutoff is nine years...Because of his anti-crime stance and because of his policies and programs....He pulled in violent criminals that were out on work release...I was representing Phillip Chance....who went to Michigan...Governor Siegelman stayed on it relentlessly to have him brought back...I had him subpoenaed and had the opportunity to examine him on the witness stand...I have seen high profile people, including governors, incarcerated....They do pretty well in a prison camp setting...But his policies put him in a pseudo-law enforcement capacity...I think that is something the court should consider...The prison system solution will likely be to send them far away from home...If they have some security and safety concerns it is highly possible...he would be incarcerated outside the Southeast region..."
"I heard the testimony from the doctor in Talladega regarding Mr. Scrushy...Having worked in the prison system....inmates don't get to go to the doctor because they want to go to the doctor...His age also speaks to the rest of his productive life will be wasted...I think another factor judge, this whole investigation...has been going on for years...We know there was a case in Birmingham that had no merit...That takes a toll...I think the court saw when we modified the financial statement yesterday...how much of a toll its taken...He still has two college-age children..Even in this case...What's happened in the past year...It was a year ago he was convicted....While not in prison, he might has well have been....There is no getting it off your mind...It's a constant burden...He's been under supervision, He's been reporting to the probation officer...I have a unique background...I learned a long time ago the whole concept of punishment we kind of go about it the wrong way...There's three categories - swiftness, duration,.....What we do use the most is duration and it has been established that is the least effective....Don Siegelman does not need ten years to deter him or others from criminal conduct....This is not like the typical bribe situation....and of course we're not conceding this is a bribe situation...The typical situation is the guy who takes a bribe to award a contract...You heard his passion for education...We've all watched him in public office....He took $500,000 from Richard Scrushy and HealthSouth and paid off the lottery...Mr. Miller, ....said Don Siegelman was the best fundraiser I've ever seen and it just wasn't going to happen (default on loan)...When he appointed Richard Scrushy he wanted that guy...(He had served other governors)...To even say that this doesn't happen everyday is disingenuous...It happens every day...There is nothing unusual...about his appointment of Richard Scrushy to the Board (CON)..."
Fuller - I would prefer not to put strict time limits on your arguments, but I do not need to be read to...I've already read all these motions...
Mr. Kilborn - I've basically loaded everything into my head and my heart and that's what I want to talk to your honor about...You have made a legal ruling based on the law...That was hard, but not as hard as exercising your discretion...I thought about what to say to you...What can I do to help you with that burden...My burden is equal to your burden...I want to say to the court that whatever your honor does I will forever be satisfied that you exercised your discretion as the best you saw it....The system of justice that we have right now...has to work...and there's a reason...The reason is...I want them to know when they hear your sentence...that what theyre doing is worthwhile...Acquitted conduct...I want the court to have a downward sentence because of acquitted conduct...There's really a double standard working here...We've got the jury system that says guilt or innocence...And the government wants to say the defendants won't accept the responsibility...There's another half to that...The government needs to accept the part of the jury verdict against them...94%...Your honor told this jury at the end of the case...You thanked them and you said you would be forever grateful for their service, their fairness...you praised that jury for a proper verdict...Accept what the jury said...I'm not talking about the legal technicalities...If it's acquitted it's over.
There are really only two parts of the case - the CON Board and Lanny Young...
At this point Kilborn is putting a chart up and we cannot hear him or completely see the chart.
"My bottom line on acquitted conduct is lets have the same standard...Let's have both sides accept the jury verdict equally...Governor Siegelman has not put one cent in his pocket in this case...All the money that went to Young, $8 some odd million, all the money that went to Bailey...none of that money went to Gov. Siegelman...The HealthSouth money...none of that money went to Gov. Siegelman, that $500,000 in reality went to pay off the Alabama Democratic Party geto out the vote debt...He did not put that money in his pocket...Even with the motorcycle...
Overall what we've heard is Gov. Siegelman is not a greedy person...He could have done many things with his life...It's kind of funny judge, but I don't think he would say...with the fix I'm in I should have been a trial law...His character is built on not money but service to people..He still has that drive because it is in effect, outside his family, his life....One example in the trial...just a little incident where he cut his salary and no one knew about it...I think it was 10 percent...What he has gotten is his honor...That's really all he had..I called Bob Abrams...He said what would a white, jew lawyer have to do in Mobile, Alabama...I told him he was...one of the most respected legal people in the country...So he came...He was a little bit nervous and Bob Abrams said I think the most compelling thing...He'd known the governor 20 years...He said he came down to the inauguration for his friend and set there and looked across...and he thought My gosh this is where George Wallace stood...Jefferson Davis the president of the confederacy and yet now the first five speakers were African-American...Bob Abrams I suggest your honor is no fool...If there was a character flaw in Gov. Siegelman...I think that man would have smelled it out...I don't thnk he would have come down....He has a good idea of his character...Bobby Seagall is well known to the court...He's known the governor almost all of his life...Bobby is perceptive enough ...he would never come into this court and try to pull the wool over his eyes...That man will call a spade a spade...because he has a firm grasp of the system of justice and he said not only is the man of good character but he's a man that takes positions that will hurt him publicly..."
"Governor Siegelman has a heart for the little people...Who in the governor's mansion....would have ever thought that a rag-tag black man...would just go over and say who are you ....There wasn't any money in it..Maze shows up to the mansion to eat...Maze can't do anything for Siegelman...Helen Vance...a widow lady in her 70s...that drives down from Birmingham to tell of a private kindness...while she was laying in the hospital from nail bomb injuries...she doesn't have plenty of family...widows get neglected...Those are kindnesses that deserve credit for character...She says he doesn't need rehabilitation...Gen. Sumerall...I called him your honor...because he has a very important job....We're at war...He takes time out to come down here and speak to your honor...It's in a letter he wrote to your honor...Shortly after the war started and just a few weeks after I started working for him...II asked him why he entered politics..He said he entered politics because I wanted to help people...I decided to see if his actions matched his words...
Political motivation - I'm going to do it as a defense from what I've heard from the government...Something not expressly dealt with that you might consider...The government has chastised Gov. Siegelman for saying there was political motivation...If the government wants to deny it...Let them prove it or be quiet...As your honor knows we had a big hearing...We wanted to go into things regarding other politicians...Atty Gen. Pryor and Gov. Riley...If they are going to keep saying things...I want a full blown hearing...I want you to know, whatever you do the Governor and I trust in your judgement..."
Dr. Blakey - There is ample discretion for you to give...community service...Particularly in light of sentences given to other governors...I really want to focus on two aspects - justice and parsimony, the concept behind the statement that every sentence should be sufficient but not greater than necessary...
The growing consensus....is the relationship between just desserts and ...rehabilitation...Not whether we can pick and choose, ....If you thought a murderer would not recidivate...you are not entitled to release him...In the history of punishment there have been two basic....Kings, emperors...and prosecutors that have been willing to punish...Punish one innocent person to put the fear of Kings in others...I know a number of judges...One of the things I have heard them admit is that the rest of their life is closed...The only friends they have now are judges...And that's a bad thing for you but it's a good thing for us...Victims of crime...seekn not just sanctions but vengeance...not just for what he did but for everything..Our system is designed to obviate clan vendettas...It's always necessary to refer to Shakespeare...I know one thing terrorism and clan vengeance ends at that door, it does not belong in this court...We are a modern society, an American Society and we tend sometime to forget our Judeo-Christian heritage...We still think like our forefathers..."
Professor Blakey has quoted Leviticus, sorry I missed it. He is now talking about Egyptian mythology and judgment of death..."Where the scales were used to represent justice...If your heart was heavier than a feather you were turned over to this beast...representing the notion of chaos...so you went into nothingness...I hope they will judge us based on our hearts...
He is talking about limitations on vengeance and clan justice again...
Sorry folks had to take a short break.
"I will give the government credit for at least one thing...They could have asked that they be stacked...Maybe we should think of them as being merciful for only asking for 30 they could have asked for more..."
"I think you know politics has reared its ugly head in the Sentencing Commission..Frankly because some of the people involved didn't trust judges...The problems with the sentencing guidlines they try to do it wholesale..I am not my social security number...I hope when I am judged by God almighty...I hope somebody doesn't. judge me as a number.....They are children of God and should be judged as individuals and the guidelines are factors you can consider...
"The difficulty is they didn't factor out sentences by governor...What I would like to do for you know is take a look at sentences by governors...Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards was...four terms governor...He's had an incredible problem with the Dept. of Justice...The Riverboat Gambling commission...He stole well over a million dollars from one group and he got a one time payment from Eddie Debartelo,...The Government put in his hand $2,400,000...The government put in Don Siegelman's hand...not a dollar...The guideline estimate on Edwards was he would have gotten 14-16 years...In fact he got 10...I would hope when you think of 10-12 for Gov. Siegelman you would compare and contrast....
Gov. Ryan...went down for a pervasive thrushing of state businesses...He used taxpayer's money in campaigns...He turned the state of Illinois into a grocery store for his friends and he handed out contracts to his friends...He didn't take responsibility...His guidelines were 8-10, the government asked for 8-10, they didn't ask for departure...He got 6.5
In West Virginia...he took illegal contributions...buying boats one-by-one and received at least one extortion payoff...The money went to him of $500,000...He got....
Another, ...received at least $350,000 in personal gifts...He added racing days to the favorite tracks...pre- Guideline sentence 4 years...Gov. Mandell...It was reversed
Gov. Blanton...Honest Services Mail Fraud...One of the ways he would get his payoffs he sold $38,000 worth of stock...and got a finders fee - pre-guidelines he got four years...
Another person- received at least $150,000 personally for corruption...He got three years.
Gov. Walker, a one-term governor...not convicted in office...Treated a savings and loan as a piggy bank and issued himself loans - $1.4 million in loans...He got 1.5 years.
More recent Connecticut Gov. John Roland (sp) - He received personally more than $100,000 in gifts...He gets a year and a day. He got a year because it was federal...
Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker mail fraud conviction. He also had problems with the IRS...He got four years probation...And finally, ...Gov. Guy Hunt...taking approximately $200,000 spent on personal items including cows - 5 years probation and 100 hours of community service a restitution of $212,000...Mr. Feaga...did not make a recommendation of time...Now he's part and parcel of a recommendation for 30 years...10 of the 10 received personal money
"This is the dog that did not bark...What's not in this indictment...tax evasion..."
"How can we justify 24 months for Young...The governor and Mr. Scrushy alone know what happened in that room...You have to take with you they were responsive...Trading someone elses time in jail for yours...The probation office says 8 years...and we know Young got 24 months...Mr. Bailey another man who got the money..He gets 18 months...His (siegelman's) life is in shambles...I can't understand jackals who want to feed on the carcases..."
Mr. Feaga stands up and Judge Fuller says, "Mr. Feaga take a seat..."
"Your honor i would like to read...from a speech given by Robert H. Jackson...The prosecutor has more control over lifel, liberty, and reputation...When he acts on malice...He is one of the worse...This authority has been granted by people who wanted the right thing done...Although if the government loses its case....He must remember....that lawyers rest their good opinion of each other not only on results but on justice...whether he returns to private practice.,,/One of the difficulties ...is he must pick his cases...He can choose his defendants...Therein is the most dangerous power...It is in this realm in which the prosecutor picks some person...and then looks for an offense...We must not forget that it was not so long ago that both the term Republican and the term Democrat...had sinister meaning...The qualities of a good prosecutor are elusive...and are hard to find...fairplay and sportsmanship is perhapbs the best balance...seeks truth and not victims...and approaches cause with humility..."
Professor Blakey apologizes to Mr. Perrine for remarks made earlier in the week.
Steve Feaga said during the break, "And you can quote me...He just wants to go back to Notre Dame and brag to his colleagues he was part of this case...He is like the fan sitting in the stands throwing rocks and bottles..." in refernce to Mr. Blakey's comments about jackals.
Louis Franklin is up for the government - "We think natural consequences do not require a downward departure...In this court I have prosecuted a husband and a wife and there were children involved...For the last 15 years...I have always walked into this courtroom and asked they...for what they have done...Threre is nothing that would warrant a downward departure...She says the governor has held office...and taken a harsh stance on violent crime...Should a politician who takes a harsh stance and then turns around and committs a crime...should that person be treated more leniently...It would b the height of hyprocracy for someone who has taken a tough stance on crime to turn around and then ....ask for leniency...There is nothing in the presentence investigation report that would indicate the governor is inform...There's been testimony of how he gets up before dawn and gets his exercise...The length of the investigation...Again judge a natural consequence of a long investigation...This court recently investigated Leon Carmichal....it was 10 years before an indictment...We don't ask for these investigations to last a long time...That's just the way it goes...We had an investigation..Sure it took some time...Ms. James also argued this is an atypical case...She said what the governor did in this instance was not a crime...That has been their decision...We don't say this defendant doesn't have the right to stand out on the corner and say he is innocent...It is the all out assault on the system...At every phase...to them come into this court and ask for acceptance of responsibility is hypocrisy...A juror conclude he is not (innocent)...Turning now to Mr. Kilborn he stood up and basically said...this will make a difference in the life of Gov. Siegelman...We're here because of the criminal conduct of the defendants...But for their criminal conduct we wouldn't be here....I want to be sure we all understand...There's nothing about that that takes it outside the heartland of cases...With respect to the acquitted conduct as it relates to Lanny Young...Lanny Young was a friend of the defendant...He was his biggest supporter...There were many meetings where Lanny Young was present...They shared a very close relationship...and Lanny Young told this court about that reltionship...A picture of Young and Siegelman...We don't deny that Gov. Siegelman has dones some good things in his lifetime...We're here because of the criminal conduct he engaged in while in office...A person who has good character is not immune and cannot be said to be someone who would not committ a crime...All we're asking the court to do is hold him accountable...If the court were inclined to give him a downward departure based on his good deeds...that would send the message okay you do 100 good deeds and your entitled to one criminal conduct...We're asking the court hold him accountable for his criminal conduct...Nothing more and nothing less....Mr. Marshall said something...He talked about the hypothetical of the two children...This defendant has a criminal history category of one...That has been taken into account...There is no reason for downward departure...This defendant should be sentenced in the guideline range...or if upward departure is warranted...There is nothing that warrants a downward departure, certainly not his good acts...In respect to the ...politics...It didn't happen...It's just as absurd today when it happened...It was raised outside this courthouse...It remained outside the courthouse...We investigated this case...We followed the evidence..We proceeded to trial...and he was convicted...
J.B. Perrine - After telling the judge that this court was under the laws of the U.S. and not the law of the Hebrews or Egyptions and if that were the case "we could use the law of China where they execute public official" Perrine went on to say, "All people are created equal under the law...that is what our men are fighting today in Iraq...We would ask your honor to apply U.S. law...Professor Blakey went on to talk ...about his theory of just desserts...The guidelines have already taken into account Professor Blakey's arguments...
He has failed at every turn to admit he did naything wrong...What did he do he sought to obstruct the investigation...Then he comes to trial and denies every aspect of the trial...Along the way he attacks every part of the system...He attacks his closest friends...He participates in a propaganda video...saying the system was corrupt...the jury was corrupt...Case law states that conduct is deserving of an upward departure..."
"In his reading of the statement of Robert Jackson, he failed to mention...."What every prosecutor is required to do is select the cases for prosecution...where the public harm the greatest and the proof the most certain..."
Your honor stated to the jurty that this was the most significant case...I hope never again will we have trial where the Governor of the state accepted bribes....It is the most blatant public corruption case...ever seen...Sold out the CON Board for half a million dollars..Then he engaged at the same time in a long running scheme with Lanny Young...This was the most flagrant case...Your honor has already found there was evidence of substantial evidence...There are making a flagranta unabashed attack on this court...Not only should you not downward depart...You should hold this against them...With respect to comparison cases...We would ask the court to look at some of the case brought here in Alabama....Henry Lee Gordan in Mossess Alabama...He was sentenced to 162 months...He was a crack addict and he was trading drugs...Another case in this district, Brian McKee and Dwight Faulk...They had a scheme about lowering the tipping fees...Another case Stephen Eugene Russo got sentenced to 120 months the gain from that case was found to be around $600,000...In this case $3.7 million....Bobby Jay...Floyd Dougherty...These men got sentenced to 51 months...In all these cases, local level politicians, a sheriff, a probate judge in Etowah County, a mayor of Orange Beach,...none of those reach statewid office...Now we have the governor of the state and he's in here pleading for a downward departure...his conduct in no way shape and form deserves downward departure.
Susan James says "Nick Bailey is like a buzzard hanging around this courthouse hoping to testify against Gov. Siegelman.."She went on to say Lanny Young was the one who benefitted.
Kilborn - They accuse counsel of attacking the witnesses as if there was something wrong with that when they're lying, like Mr. Young and I would attack him again if he'd show his face...Bad judgment maybe....They're trying to introduce 1983 letters...I think it's clear a double standard shouldn't be applied...We do not think its fair for the government to continue we be punished for what the jury found us innocent of...He's doing his time...We shouldn't do his time..(referring to Lanny Young)
We are now going to hear a witness for Mr. Scrushy
"I am an ordained minister in Birmingham..We get women right out of the county and Tutwiler..We have a ministry for troubled women...It runs the whole gamut from women who are just on drugs to women who have committed vioilent crimes...We have a special program with DOC..I didn't really know him til about a year ago and a friend of mine called and said he wanted to bring someone by to see the ministry...Richard Scrushy came into the building for the first time about a year ago...First of all I was very shocked to see him...I was a little skeptical at first...He started coming to pray with them talk to them...I was not expecting...I watch TV a lot, so I was expecting this man to come in very flamboyent and all...On Thursday night he comes and preaches to this women and sometimes he stays for hours....He's the real deal now in his relationship with God...He comes to the center and goes to the Kids Zone where all the children are and he sits down and just plays with them...What he does is he takes and explains no matter what they've done they have the forgiveness of God...
Did Richard Scrushy ask you to testify - "No I was watching television and I saw some man yelling at Leslie outside the courthouse and the Lord led me to testify...I called him...Richard said I want you to be careful I don't want you to do anything that will make people look poorly on your ministry..."
Is Richard Scrushy a big financial contributor? "Richard Scrushy one time gave $25,000 for us to keep the power on. Totally over the year about $75,000..."
"She started coming with Richard after a month or two...We had a flood and she brought so many bags of clothes...Richard Scrushy did not give any money but his foundation gave the $75,000 I think it is the Richard M. Scrushy Foundation..."
What does Richard Scrushy give them? Nothing except acceptance...I was surprised at what a good preacher he is...He really knows the word of God...The facility was the old hospital there's so many rooms but there's not a large room..There was a building in Irondale that was for sale...so Richard...to buy the building...and the women can go ...to worship...He has a vision of a mission....The people he ministers too are not the affluent...They are the hurting people...I just can't see him flighting anywhere...One thing a few weeks ago I was talking to Richard and Leslie...I was getting very emotional...and he started ministering to me...Don't worry about this it's God's will...
Did you bring any of the women from the shelter? Yes...Stand up guys.
Leach then gets the names of the women for the record.
Mr. Feaga will cross.
Feaga - "We appreciate your ministry...we applaud you...How long have you been ministering?"
Witness - Three years
Feaga - And you said you'd known Mr. Scrushy how long?
Witness - One year.
Mr. Perrine is arguing his motion for upward departure for Mr. Siegelman.
"We have a man...at least a period of six years was involved in a pay-for-play scheme with Lanny Young...Whatever he wanted Lanny Young would give it to him so he would do things for his business...This went across the branches of Alabama government...The Goat Hill Construction Project perpetrated a fraud...to pay off the lease on these warehouses...Involved the Alabama Beverage Control Board, ADECA...He gives Lanny Young 2.3 million to do a job a 12-year old girl could do...Further...The benefit of $3 million to Lanny Young for the change in the service area for the Three Corners Landfill....was a result of his pay-for-play scheme...."
Perrine talks about corruption of the Alabama Department of Revenue related to the Emelle landfill ruling..."In this part of defendant Siegelman's criminal conduct...we have two local authorities...we're not talking about a one time happenstance...This was conduct he engaged in for six years...And then you have...the CON Board....Your honor has already found there was a $500,000 bribe paid...The conspiracy and scheme charged...These defendants then went out and corrupted another CON Board member, Tim Adams....The cases that the government cited in its brief...We set forth for the court the facts that the 11th Circuit detailed...(Shemberg)...You have a circuit judge involved in a kickback scheme...In this case we're not asking for five levels we're asking for four levels...I would point the court to another case...The U.S. vs Gutman, April 2000 - the defendant in that case where the court applied the same upward departure...and the court departed upward to the statutory maximum...In that case a state of Florida representative...the defendant engaged in obstruction of justice during the investigation...The court make take judicial notice of public reaction to this case...The court takes judicial notice that the defendant declared his innocent and said....it was politiclly motivated...That's exactly what this defendant...has done...I would say there has not been any case like this related to the press coverage involved...the malicious attacks these defendants have made...These defendants have...attacked the system...attacked the court...This causes a huge loss of public confidence...We would ask the court to upward depart four levels...We believe a reasonable upward departure is four levels...."
Lunch recess until 1 p.m.
Grover,
The jury was also "We The People of Alabama" and some of them were e-mailing back and forth during the trial but I guess that was all ok even though they weren't supposed to be! And beleive it or not I do remember who found them guilty and your one of many that obviously had them guilty before ever hearing any evidence brought against them or should I say the lack there of!
Posted by: Nikki | June 28, 2007 at 03:57 PM
nikki/fla,we the people of ala. has not judged richard& don THE JURY FOUND THEM GUILTY; TRY TO REMEMBER THAT. NOW LET THE JUDGE SEND THEM TO PRISON WHERE THEY BELONG
Posted by: grover | June 28, 2007 at 02:33 PM
Sorry if I implied that he did me harm personally....he hasn't.
I spent hours upon hours with the man before all of this happened and if he was the least bit spiritual back then, he had a very odd way of showing it! And forget about the "covet thy neighbor's wife" stuff...
I'm no theologian, but from my understanding, if you admit your sins (from the heart)to God, he will forgive you. So, maybe he has done that privately with God, but until he admits his wrongs publicly, it'll be difficult for those who know him to show that same forgiveness.
Posted by: Scooterpass | June 28, 2007 at 01:40 PM
All of you who are so quick to judge Richard Scrushy and Don Siegelman in this case need to go to Harpers.org and read the gory details surrounding Alabama corruption. I would be embarrassed to be from Alabama after reading more of what isn't being printed in the Montgomery and Birmingham papers! After reading this and seeing the other side it all makes me sick! There are so many of you that claim to be Christians but have been so quick to judge! And speaking of judge, Judge Fuller and the prosecution hopefully will be placed in front of an investigative committe after all of this is said and done to answer to a lot of questions about their true political agenda behind the persistence to lock these two men up and throw away the key! Get over the fact that Richard wasn't found guilty in the Healthsouth case. IT'S OVER! That's another reason the prosecution is so hell bent on getting him in this case, they LOST before! To those who are involved in all of this with Karl Rove, shame on you and I can't wait to see when it all crumbles around your feet!
Nikki/Florida
Posted by: Nikki | June 28, 2007 at 01:30 PM
We will see how this defense strategy goes after the trial is over. I gurantee he will continue in his walk and it will go unnoticed. Just because it did not receive the scrutiny that his work in the church is receiving now what makes people so sure he hasnt always been active in the church? And you show your true colors with that statement that all of your resentment comes from your working with employment with Healthsouth and any wrongs that you feel were committed against you are attributed to him. One of the principles is when someone commits a wrong against you personally you are to turn the other cheek. Sounds like you forgot to turn and you are just glad that someone is going after him now. After what he has been through (he put himself in this position) it makes perfect sense for him to be a broken man and to realize that he is nothing and that God is the real master. And do not get me wrong I am not for protecting either man and I believe they both committed crimes and deserve to serve time for those crimes, I just feel that people such as yourself are making personal attacks against Scrushy not for his committed crime that he is on trial for but over perceived wrongs that are attributed to him.
Posted by: Prattville | June 28, 2007 at 01:24 PM
"...but he seems to be regretful of what he has done in his life.."
Sorry, you will have a very difficult time convincing me and many whom knew the man and worked for him that he is regretful of anything but the regret of being caught. He keeps saying, "We pray that God will let the REAL truth come out". That statement proves to me that he's no "man of God". Those that know him and what he has done in the past know that if the REAL truth came out, it'd be a confession of him leading the 3+ billion fraud at HS. Until he owns up to that, there won't be too many people out there (who he hasn't made donations to) who will accept his recently recovered spirituality for anything more than what it appears...a defense strategy.
Posted by: Scooterpass | June 28, 2007 at 01:10 PM
It is not odd how Scrushy found his love of God during this trial. When you get taken to your lowest point God is there for you when everyone else has turned on you. And he has always been a regular at church, this is not a recent development that he is active in his church. He has just recently gotten coverage for his role in the church and his faith. Don't get me wrong I think they both deserve major jail time, but I believe you have some major flaws with your comments about Scrushy's religious actions and as a Christian it is not my place to decide whether or not Scrushy is just going through the motions, but he seems to be regretful of what he has done in his life and is now trying to get his life straightened out.
Posted by: Prattville | June 28, 2007 at 12:36 PM
I commend Scrushy for all his donations to various ministries, however, if Scrushy was truly a man of God, he would have given all those donations back to the people he originally stole it from...so that they could use it to help rebuild many of the lives, careers, marriages and families he wrecked with his egotistical, criminal greed.
Posted by: Scooterpass | June 28, 2007 at 12:07 PM
Wow, I sure hope they can show how Scrushy used his "religious awakening" to escape conviction in his previous sham of a trial.
Odd how he found such tremendous love of God and his fellow man AFTER he got in trouble. Previous to the problems he didn't know what a church was.
Posted by: johnj011 | June 28, 2007 at 12:07 PM
What is wrong with Feaga? He is so unprofessional! I can't believe he is representing the US Govt. What happened to integrity?
Wow.
Posted by: At Bay | June 28, 2007 at 11:10 AM
Thank you for all the info.
Great job.
I personally hope R. Scrushy
receives the max. sentence.
He is a deceitful,corrupt individual who preys on others to his own advantage.
Of course these are just my opinions from watching him for the past 5 years.
Posted by: johnj011 | June 28, 2007 at 10:48 AM