at-Largely: Court overturns main charges against attorney Paul Minor

December 11, 2009

Court overturns main charges against attorney Paul Minor

My latest. If you are not familiar with the case, see links at bottom

by Larisa Alexandrovna
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an opinion on Friday overturning one of the main charges in the federal case against Mississippi trial attorney Paul Minor and judges John Whitfield and Wes Teel.
The three men were convicted on bribery and honest services fraud charges in 2007, in what many Minor supporters have called political prosecutions. In 2008, the Bush administration even opposed MInor's request to be released from prison long enough to visit his dying wife.
The Circuit Court began considering Minor’s appeal in May of this year. The three-judge panel expressed skepticism at the governments’ case during oral arguments.
Raw Story’s award-nominated series, The Permanent Republican Majority (see links below), exposed some of the issues in the cases of Minor, Whitfield, and Teel, who were prosecuted starting in 2003 by a Bush-appointed US Attorney, along with former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, Jr.

Read the rest of the article here.

See more about Minor here, Siegelman, here and the full investigative series below.

The Permanent Republican Majority Series

Part One – The Political Prisoner

Part Two – Exclusive interview with jailed governor’s daughter, Dana Siegelman

Part Three – Running Elections from the White House

Part Four – How Bush pick helped prosecute top Democrat-backed judge

Part Five – Mississippi Justice: Bush US Attorney targeted my wife, supporters and friends

Part Six - Break-ins plague targets of US Attorneys

Part Seven - Justice for Sale: How Big Tobacco and the GOP teamed up to crush Democrats in the South

Updates to the PRM series

Judge who ruled on appeal of prosecuted Democrat was Karl Rove protege