All language subtitles for Atticus.v.The.Architect.The.Political.Assassination.of.Don.Siegelman.2017.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG2_English

- [Crowd] Four more years!

Four more years!

Four more years!

Four more years!

Four more years!

Four more years!

Four more years!

- Going into the election in '02

we knew it was going
to be a close race.

On election night, we were
in the war room of sorts

that we had set up to track
results as they came in

from a network of people we
had throughout the state.

We were taking in the
numbers all night long.

- On that election
night I was assigned

to the Riley campaign
in Talladega.

That's where we
were covering it.

The Riley campaign and
all of their supporters

were gathered in this
room, in this arena,

watching those numbers,
cheering sometimes,

going quiet sometimes.

- When we had the
complete state in,

we realized we'd pulled it off.

We'd won.

Shortly thereafter,
Associated Press, AP,

called the race and
CNN called the race.

It was over.

It was done.

- And then Don
Siegelman comes out

and essentially claims
victory in this race.

- The voters have spoken.

We're gonna move
this state forward

by investing in education
and giving every child,

every single child in this state

a chance to reach their
God-given potential.

- Dad gets elected
governor again

and we went back down
there and Dad's so happy.

Oh my gosh, my
children are back.

They like got out
of bed for this

and so we all got to go
onstage and celebrate.

- How sweet it is!

- Everybody went
quiet for awhile

and then the Riley
campaign came out and spoke

briefly and said
we're still watching,

we're still monitoring,
but it's too soon to tell.

We'll see ya tomorrow and we're
gonna call it a night here.

- Siegelman had
won the re-election

and then we started getting
word about something

that's taking place
in Baldwin County.

(dramatic music)

- Our criminal justice
system, when it goes wrong,

can go wrong horrendously.

- Should the
prosecutors be in jail?

Yes, they should be in jail.

- That's mind boggling.

Well we know she's lying.

- The government
spared no resource.

We had to do what we
could to make sure

he wasn't re-elected
because he was

an ongoing threat to our client.

- Lo and behold, they
started to manipulate

the criminal justice system.

- One purpose here and
that was to keep that man

from being the governor
of the state of Alabama.

- Here is what we call
a fraud on the courts.

- No doubt in my mind that
Don Siegelman was roved.

- They had to get rid of him

because they couldn't
beat him fair and square.

- They can't get to
the jury, but they did.

- I am mad.

I wanna get somebody's
neck in my hands.

- It's one of the great
injustices of our time.

- God bless the great
state of Alabama.

- This is one of
the most egregious

miscarriages of justice
that I've encountered.

- There's something
wrong in Alabama.

- This situation cries
out for the correction

of an injustice.

(gentle music)

- Key in that whole
play is the vote

in one of the most
Republican counties

in the state of
Alabama, Baldwin County.

Something very strange occurred

in the course of the
election night there,

resulting in a fairly
dramatic shift in the vote.

- I was the Chairman of the
Baldwin County Democratic Party

and one of the duties at that
time that I was in office

was to go to, on election night,

go to Bay Minnette
for election returns.

Around 10:45, we got
the first printout

that showed John
Sophocleus had received

more votes than Don Siegelman.

There's this huge
red flag goes up

that this number couldn't
possibly be right.

- [Narrator] As a Democrat,
Siegelman was not expected

to win this heavily
Republican county.

In past elections,
Democrats usually got

about 40% of the vote and
third-party candidates

received only a few
hundred votes for governor.

However, these results showed
that Libertarian candidate

John Sophocleus received
over 13,000 votes,

signaling an obvious mistake.

- We brought that
to the attention

of the Sheriff's Department
and they immediately agreed

that something must be wrong.

So about 11:00,
one of the deputies

brought us a new printout
that was supposed

to be the corrected results.

Under those totals that
we were told were correct,

Don Siegelman would
have won the election.

- [Narrator] This
seemingly correct result

adjusted the Libertarian
candidates total to 937,

increased Governor
Siegelman's vote count

to just over 19,000 and
marginally increased
Riley's votes.

These corrected totals
were then consistent

with results from
previous years.

Although Siegelman wasn't
expected to win the county,

it was enough votes statewide
to win the election.

- That set of numbers is the
one that it was given to me.

It was given to the
Republican party chairman.

It was given to the
representative from the AP

and those were the
numbers that we left with.

This is supposed to
be the correct total.

This is what's going
to be certified later,

so we got our printouts
and we all left

shortly after 11:00,
including it appeared that

most of the Sheriff Department
staff was leaving as well.

They were locking up the
building for the night

and we thought
that the election,

at least for Baldwin
County, was over.

By the time I got home,
it was close to midnight.

As I'm watching the TV,
the AP wire is calling

the election for Siegelman.

- I would guess around 11
or so, just from my memory,

Rob Riley came out
and I was live.

I had a wireless
microphone and I was just

roaming around and a
photographer from a distance

and Rob Riley came out
and looked at me and said

"Rick, you want a story?"

- [Man] Due to the fact that
the media has been reporting

what we can now confirm as
a 6,000 vote discrepancy,

the numbers simply don't add up.

- We win this race
and at this point,

it was off to the races.

- We're going to fight until
we know what every vote is.

(cheering)

- I get on my computer and went
to the probate court website

to see what results
had been posted there.

The dispute is over a
third set of results

that's been posted to
the probate court website

that I've never seen before.

There's time stamped
just a few minutes after

the latest copy
that we had gotten

that was supposed
to be accurate.

- [Narrator] These mysterious
new third set of totals

were never seen
by party officials

to validate their authenticity.

They just simply appeared on
the probate court's website.

- I remember having
almost like a sick feeling

in my stomach, like something
serious is going on here.

This isn't just a minor glitch.

This is serious.

This is going to change
the result of the election.

- [Narrator] In fact,
these new results

didn't change the
totals of either Riley

or the third-party candidate

and no other race on
the ballot was affected.

The only change was that
just over 6,300 votes

from Governor Siegelman's
column simply disappeared.

These new, unverified
set of results

switched the winner over
from Governor Siegelman

to Republican Bob Riley.

- Complete bullshit is what
anybody else would say,

but it just that doesn't happen.

This was an issue over
we say the vote changed

and we've locked everything up

and nobody can look at it.

- That third set of numbers,
according to the time stamp,

those numbers were
generated right after

the numbers that we were given.

I don't know how in
two minutes' time

a new set of numbers
was produced.

- And sometime during
the dark of night,

two individuals went
into the courthouse

and came back out and
announced the vote had changed

and it had changed just
enough to change the outcome

of the governor's race.

- [Narrator] According
to numerous reports,

Bob Riley's Chief
of Staff Dan Gans

had been seen at the same
voting precinct with a laptop

along with Riley political
consultant George Burger.

Both men had been trained
by the voting software

manufacturer and
professional claimed

to be voting technology experts.

- That morning, I'm
heading up to Bay Minette

and when we got there,
the canvasing board,

they were all locked in
Adrian Johns' office.

They went in there.

They weren't letting
anyone in to talk to them

and they were
apparently deciding

what they were going to
do about the situation.

The canvassing board was made
up of three local officials.

It was Jackie Calhoun,
who was the circuit clerk,

Marvin Ussery who was with
the Sheriff's Department

and then you had Adrian
Johns, the probate judge.

Those were the three
people in Adrian's office.

I can tell you that they
had locked the doors

and nobody could go in.

They were locked in
there from the time

that I got to the courthouse,
which was early that morning,

until minutes
before they went out

and announced the certification

and so I handed them a copy
of the statute that said

certification is supposed
to be on Friday at noon.

They'd have no part of it
and they were locked in

and this is what we're gonna do

and we're not gonna discuss it.

We're gonna certify
these results right now

and they turned and just
walked out of the room.

- Siegelman had
received 12,736 votes.

Bob Riley received 31,052 votes.

- These numbers were certified
after no one was there

from any political party.

The statute says you
certify at noon on Friday,

but suddenly on this one
race, this one election,

they've decided that
they're going to certify

on Wednesday morning instead.

- I'm not convinced
that there is a problem

with the software.

It's something that
we need to look at

and talk with Mr.
Kelley about from our

election vendor company.

- [Narrator] Despite
acknowledging potential software

problems and the fact that
three different results

all came from only one data set,

Judge Johns and the
other election officials

all Republican Riley supporters,

defied state law and certified
the results two days early

to make them official.

Moments later, the Republican
Attorney General, Bill Pryor,

issued a warning to anyone
trying to initiate a recount.

- Before the doors
opened the next morning,

the Republican Attorney
General has issued

an AG's opinion basically
saying he'd lock

anybody up that tried
to count the votes.

- A recount count
of sealed material

cannot occur without
a court order

and a finding that a
voting machine or precinct

failed to make a return.

- [Narrator] Attorney General
Pryor quickly obtained

those ballots and results to
be kept in his possession.

- You would expect
someone to at least

look at the votes
publicly and show

what the tally
was, what happened.

That's never occurred.

Those ballots were
locked up, put under seal

and to this day no one has
ever seen those ballots

and no one has ever
questioned the individuals

who went in and said
the vote changed.

I've never seen anyone
so adamantly opposed

to counting votes.

But that's what took place.

- It's not only has he
said the people's ballot

will not be counted,

the only evidence of
the people's choice,

he has now said to the public
officials of this state,

if you do it, if you do it,

you're gonna be put in jail.

Our public officials
want to do what's right.

- [Narrator] A recount
would seen obvious,

however, the early
certification eliminated

the possibility
for that to happen.

- In case you have not heard,

Baldwin County just
came out and certified

the election results
and they are...

Don Sielgelman 12,736.

Riley 31,050.

(cheering)

- The two sets of returns from

this gubernatorial election
between Sielgelman and Riley,

I dove into those
anomalies to see

if I could figure out
what was going on.

When certain patterns show up,

it begins to show
probably source

of the anomaly in the data.

- [Narrator] James Gundlach,

a former professor
at Auburn University,

performed a statistical
analysis of the vote totals.

The resulting paper, which
had been peer reviewed

by professors at MIT,

clearly show that a
fraud had taken place.

- The first set of results,
statistically, are normal.

You look at the second
sets and you see how

the blue dot for Baldwin
County is way off the line.

That's saying Baldwin
County results

are statistically abnormal.

- When you went from
the first set of numbers

to the second set of numbers
there were several changes,

although the biggest changes
were in the governor's race.

When you go from the second
set to the third set,

you would assume that
there would be changes

in several races again,
but there weren't.

The only place you
saw any difference

from the second set
to the third set

was in the governor's race.

In this case, you had the
shift of just enough votes

to change the outcome of
the election statewide.

- My lawyers tell
me that we've got

an excellent chance
to win because the law

is on our side.

- If it went to the
Alabama Supreme Court,

then it's going to be
heard by Republican judges.

If it gets all the way to the
United States Supreme Court,

it's gonna be heard
by the same justices

that had just ruled against
Al Gore two years earlier.

So the odds of success
through all of that

were probably pretty low.

- And every step
would mean a lawsuit.

Every question would
mean a new court battle.

A look at the voter's list?

Back in court.

An examination of the ballots?

Another lawsuit.

To find out what really
happened in Baldwin County,

we would be back in court.

- The data patterns
and the data show clear

data manipulation that stole
the election from Siegelman.

- [Narrator] Sometime
after the election,

Riley Chief of Staff, Dan Gans,

who had been seen at the
Baldwin County office

on that fateful
night with a laptop,

went on to work for the
Alexander Strategy Group,

a lobbying firm associated
with convicted lobbyist

Jack Abramoff.

Multiple reports have
said that his bio

on their now-defunct
website stated that he had,

quote, "Implemented a state
of the art ballot security

"program that was critical
to securing Governor-elect

"Riley's narrow margin
of victory, 3,120 votes."

- The people of Alabama
spoke last night.

The only problem is the
governor did not wait

until they stopped speaking.

(cheering)

- The substantial decline in
the percentage of the vote

that went from Siegelman
from the county before

to the county this time
and the fact that that

significant decline
occurred when everybody

was locked out of the voting,

observing how the votes were
counted and other such things,

if you're not
suspicious about that,

you shouldn't be an adult.

(chuckling)

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(piano music)

- We want people to know
that we're very proud

of who our dad is.

We're very proud of him
and what he represents.

We want people to know
that we're his kids

and that we stand by him
as much now, if not more,

than we ever have in the past.

- I am the father of
two wonderful children.

We want them to have the
best opportunities in life

and we know that the road
to those opportunities

starts at the schoolhouse door,

and they remind me
each and every day

how great it is to be a dad.

- Police chiefs, sheriffs
and district attorneys

are for Don Siegelman because
he's helped them fight crime.

- And he will fight
to get guns and drugs

out of our schools.

- We loved our dad and
he tried to give a voice

to as many people who
he felt needed a voice

and hadn't had a voice.

He just loved people
and genuinely.

It wasn't a fake sort
of I have to do this.

It was an authentic
I get to do this.

- Like so many of you,
my wife and I know

firsthand the impact of crime.

We were hit head-on by a
career criminal driving drunk.

I almost lost my family.

I remember holding
Laurie in my arms,

waiting for the
ambulance to arrive,

praying and wondering whether
she would live or die.

Laurie and I saw our
criminal justice system

more concerned with
processing criminals

than protecting victim's rights.

After only 48 hours,

while Laurie was
still in God's hands,

our assailant was
back on the streets.

I make this pledge.

I will work night and day
to make your families,

your homes and your
communities safer.

(uplifting music)
(applause)

- He did something that
no elected official

in the history of
the state ever did.

He was elected to all four

statewide constitutional
positions.

He was elected
Secretary of State,

Attorney General,
Lieutenant Governor.

- And now I need your
help and vote on Tuesday.

- [Bob] And Governor.

- There's never been another
politician like Don Siegelman,

and I'm talking
about George Wallace,

whoever else you
wanna throw in there.

You can talk to
anybody in this town,

people that knew
Governor Wallace,

who was as a relentless
and tireless campaigner.

Those people will tell
you right up front

that Don Siegelman was maybe
the greatest campaigner

that has ever been in the
history of this state.

Don Siegelman was relentless.

- The time for talk is over.

We need action.

We need a constitutional
convention.

We need to change
our tax structure.

We need to invest in education,

and I trust the people
do be able to do that.

- Don Siegelman is a
hero to a lot of people.

I walked the streets a few
times in Montgomery with Don

and I've never seen
anything like it.

They don't do that
for me in Phoenix.

They don't pull over
and wave and come over

and give you a hug and thank you

for all you've done for us.

It's people across the
board viewed him as a hero.

- Don Siegelman was a
Clinton-esque figure.

Matter of fact, he was
mentioned as potential

candidate for President
of the United States.

He was that good.

- And anytime
you're in politics,

if you're gonna
get something done,

you gotta push
somebody occasionally,

and he didn't mind pushing,

but he always pushed
in the right direction.

- So the Republicans
felt threatened

as long as Don
Siegelman was around.

Lo and behold, they
started to target him

and to manipulate the
criminal justice system.

(solemn music)

- Don Siegelman ran for
governor on a platform

that called for the approval
of a state-wide lottery

and the proceeds
of the lottery were

to go toward education.

- An education
lottery is so critical

to the future of Alabama.

Only the people of
Alabama should have

the right to decide.

- Public education in Alabama
was not in good shape.

Siegelman was committed
to changing it.

We had looked closely at Georgia

as our neighboring state on
how the lottery had almost

single-handedly
transformed education.

Suddenly pre-K was
available to everyone.

Technology was in schools
and if you graduated

with a good enough grade point,

you went to college
on a scholarship.

We wanted that in Alabama.

- Adequacy is not good
enough for my children

nor do I think it's good enough

for the children of this state.

The governor has argued
that portable classrooms

are an adequate place
for people to learn.

Number one, it's
not safe from fires.

It would take about 60
seconds to burn down

one of those
structures completely.

- By having the approval
of this lottery,

it would have changed the
status of the state of Alabama

to such that the
tribe in the state

would have been
able to legally game

or have gambling
facilities in the state.

- [Interviewer] I see, so
if the lottery education

fund was passed,

that automatically opened
the door to casinos?

- Right, to tribal
gaming casinos there.

- Obviously, if
Alabama had a lottery

it would hurt Indian
tribes in Mississippi.

Choctaw Indian tribe had a
big operation in Philadelphia

about 50 miles from
the Alabama line

and Choctaw Indians
gave a lot of money

to Republican strategists
Abramoff and Scanlon.

- [Narrator] Scanlon,
who had previously served

as press secretary for
then Congressman Bob Riley,

joined forces with
lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Their client, the Choctaw
Casino in Mississippi,

secretly paid them $20 million,

funneled through
various PACs to defeat

Siegelman's education
lottery referendum,

thus preventing any
possible competition

from any new casinos
built in Alabama.

- We expected the Indian
casinos in Mississippi

to oppose the
lottery referendum,

but what we didn't expect
was for there to be

a secret network of
people pulled together

to illegally funnel
this money into Alabama.

There was a off-handed comment
that they had raised it

at church bake sales,
but that didn't happen.

- [Narrator] A U.S. Senate
committee investigation,

headed by John McCain,
found that part of the money

had been funneled through
501c4 organizations

and eventually found
their way to grass roots

lobbying campaigns led
by one of Abramoff's

old friends, Ralph Reed.

- Ralph and I got ouR cert
together in college Republicans,

in the Republican party and
had spent our entire lives

working to elect Republicans
and defeat Democrats.

- [Narrator] Funded by the
Choctaws, Reed went to work

on church-going voters
using a strategy

that proved
incredibly effective,

if not an outright
moral contradiction.

In a document presented
during the Congressional

investigation on Indian Affairs,

lobbyist Michael Scanlon
spelled out their strategy

in direct but not
so polite terms.

"Simply put, we want
to bring out the wackos

"to vote against
something and make sure

"the rest of the public
lets the whole thing

"slip past them.

"The wackos get their
information from
the Christian right,

"Christian radio,
mail, the Internet

"and telephone trees."

Over the years, Ralph
Reed and his organization

had developed close associations

with church
administrators throughout

the southern states to
amass a vast database

of personal information about
individual church members,

the kind of highly
concentrated group of consumers

that marketers only dream about.

Using this list and
the marketing methods

described by Scanlon,
Reed targeted Christian

voters with a simple message,

don't vote for the
education lottery fund

because it contradicts
Christian values.

Little did they know the
money behind the message

was casino cash.

To counter the
Abramoff-Reed campaign

against the referendum,

proponents of the
education lottery

began their own
marketing efforts

and created the first of two
non-profit organizations.

To pay for local
advertisements in marketing,

they took out a loan for
over one million dollars.

- At the beginning of the
campaign for the lottery,

we helped fund an effort
and we sent politicos

into work in Alabama
to defeat this

and it was defeated at
the end by two to one.

- [Narrator] The Alabama
education lottery fund,

the non-profit
organization covering

all the expenses
of the referendum,

still owed about half
a million dollars.

- It happened to be
Alabama had kind of

unfortunate circumstance
of a very Republican state,

having lost the
governorship to a democrat

and being proximate to
the state that contained

our large client, the Choctaws,

and then eventually we
made the decision that

we had to do what we
could to make sure

he wasn't re-elected
because he was a continuing

and ongoing threat to our
client in Mississippi.

(gloomy music)

- [Narrator] Sometime
after our interview

with Jack Abramoff,
we obtained an email

he sent to his business
partner, Michael Scanlon,

where he made it clear
what their casino client

expected of Riley in return
for their financial support

by explicitly stating that
the Choctaws definitely want

Riley to shut down the
Poarch Creek operation.

The Poarch Creek Indian
tribe owned casinos

in neighboring Alabama
and were considered

by the Choctaws to be
their primary competition.

While Siegelman held
the state's top office,

his rivals wasted
no time in targeting

the newly elected governor.

Bill Pryor, the same
Attorney General

that would later stop the
recount in Baldwin County,

issued financial
subpoenas for Siegelman

and his staff only weeks
after taking office,

hardly enough time for
anyone to do anything

that would warrant
an investigation.

- While they're still
trying to figure out

how the phone systems work,

while they're still
arranging furniture,

an investigation is underway.

- [Narrator] Bill Pryor, the
Republican Attorney General

that initiated
the investigation,

worked with political
consultants Karl Rove

and his partner, Bill Canary.

Soon after taking office
in Washington in 2001,

the Bush Administration
appointed Leura Canary

as the new Federal Prosecutor

for the middle
district of Alabama.

She happened to be the
wife of Bill Canary,

Karl Rove's colleague and
political consulting partner.

This means that the
Federal Prosecutor

legally pursing
Governor Siegelman

is married to the campaign
manager of his opponent

in the upcoming election.

Even though there's no
premise for the investigations

of Governor Siegelman,

the negative publicity
and false accusations

help her husband's client
by smearing Siegelman's

political image in the press.

- So, it's pretty cut and dry

that the moment
that Leure Canary

became the U.S. Attorney,
her husband was being paid

by one of Governor Siegelman's
political opponents.

So getting Don Siegelman
benefited her husband

and all of a sudden,
when she takes over,

the case gets new
energy, action ramps up

as far as a grand jury
investigating everything

you can imagine.

- [Narrator] With almost
unlimited resources,

and without any
evidence of a crime,

prosecutors began
looking for anything

that could smear or tarnish
their Democratic rival.

They question
hundreds of people,

including campaign donors
in an obvious attempt

to discourage future
contributions to
Siegelman's campaign.

They also issued dozens
of grand jury subpoenas

in hopes of finding
something to pin on him.

As Canary's efforts
quickly gained momentum,

Siegelman's attorney,
David Cromwell Johnson,

makes a statement on
the courthouse steps

regarding Leura Canary's
obvious conflict of interest.

- These are real
canaries, by the way.

The difference between
a canary and a parakeet

is a canary sings and that's
what's been happening.

The next step is I
wanna go to Washington

and talk to those people
about what's happening here.

This is a very serious matter.

It's a violation of
the criminal code,

the U.S. Attorney's code

and the code of
federal regulations

and she's got to
get off this case.

- [Narrator] Leura Canary
soon offers a public statement

saying that Justice
Department officials

in Washington said there
was no conflict of interest.

"However," she said, "out
of an abundance of caution,

"I will recuse myself
from the case."

Despite her statement,
no official documents

were ever produced
to back up her claim.

- That's mind boggling.

The fact that the Justice
Department would tell her

that she didn't have a
conflict when her husband

was working for Don Siegelman's
political opponents.

Well, we know she's lying.

Even a blind man can see
that conflict of interest.

It's almost comical.

If I wrote that down,
if I took this case

and wrote it as a movie
script, it would be rejected.

If I wrote it out as a novel
outline, it would be rejected.

People would say
it's unrealistic.

- [Narrator] Canary ostensibly
turned the case over

to her assistants,

Deputy Prosecutors Stephen
Faega and Louis Franklin.

- When Louis Franklin
says he was the person

who was making the decisions,
the buck stopped here,

Leura Canary was
not involved in it,

that was a conscious lie and
this is a lie that mattered.

(dramatic chord)

- [Narrator] Faega and
Franklin rapidly expanded

the investigation by
questioning hundreds

of potential witnesses
looking for a crime

to prosecute Siegelman.

- They were absolutely
targeting Don Siegelman.

They were threatening people,

trying to get them
to say certain things

so that they could
prosecute him.

They went to Dr. Phillip
Bobo's home in Tuscaloosa

late at night.

They threatened him.

They wanted him to
say certain things

against Governor Siegelman.

He wouldn't lie and they
brought charges against him

in another case.

- It was led by a
team of prosecutors

out of the Northern District,

primarily Matt Hart
who had previously

tried the case, indicted
him, convicted him,

then the 11th Circuit
overturned it.

They continued
after this doctor,

destroyed his practice,
destroyed his family life

and ultimately he was acquitted.

- [Narrator] Soon after
Dr. Bobo was acquitted,

prosecutors led by Bush
appointee Alice Martin

indicted him again with
virtually the same charge.

However, this new indictment
named Don Siegelman

and his former chief
of staff Paul Hamrick

as co-defendants.

- The basic charge was
conspiracy in Medicaid for all.

Once a jury was
chosen in the case,

I conducted a hearing

to determine whether
the government has
sufficient evidence

of a conspiracy and the
witnesses who testified,

called by the government,

convinced me that there
was absolutely nothing to

this charge of conspiracy

and so I dismissed
the conspiracy charge,

notified the parties that we
were gonna proceed to trial.

At that point, the
government dismissed the case

and I insisted that it be
dismissed with prejudice

and so it was.

In my 29 years seven
months as a federal judge,

this was the most unfounded
criminal prosecution

that I saw.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(gloomy music)

- [Narrator] With
the trial behind him

and polls showing support,

Siegelman announced that
he would challenge Riley

in the 2006 governor's race.

- Don Siegelman immediately
set about talking

about running for
governor again in 2006

and polls showed
that Don Siegelman

would beat Bob
Riley in a rematch.

So that really set off alarm
bells in Republican circles.

- [Narrator] Just after
Siegelman announced

his intention to challenge
Riley for governor,

prosecutors under Leura Canary

immediately reanimated an
old investigation against him

that had been closed
because of lack of evidence.

- The evidence was not there
to convict Don Siegelman.

The evidence simply
was not there.

So how do you go about
trying to get a conviction?

Well you have to get
someone to testify.

You have to get someone to
cut some sort of a deal.

There's a continuing pattern
of intimidating witnesses

and trying to get people to lie

in order to say what
these people wanted

in order to make a case
against Governor Siegelman

and they've done this
throughout the years.

This is another pattern of
misconduct on their part.

- We did, with this case,
what we do with every case.

There was evidence out there,

we investigated, we
looked at evidence,

and we went where it took us.

It took us back to him.

- [Narrator] Instead of
using current FBI agents,

Canary's office
quietly contracted

three retired investigators
who had previously worked

under then former Alabama
attorney general Jeff Sessions.

Together they
scoured every aspect

of Siegelman's personal,
private, and public life

in hopes of finding
something to charge him with.

About the same time,
prosecutor Alice Martin,

who had just lost
the Siegelman case,

indicted Richard Scrushy,
then CEO of the state's

largest healthcare
company HealthSouth,

as the first person ever charged

under the new
Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

By the time the
case went to trial,

it received enormous
media attention

from all over the world

and billed as the financial
trial of the century,

just what prosecutors wanted.

Eventually, five of
HealthSouth's CFOs

pled guilty to fraud.

However, Richard Scrushy
was found not guilty

of all charges.

- The government
spared no resources

to try to take down Richard.

Between the Security
Exchange Commission,

the FBI, the Northern
District of Alabama,

the press, the publicity,

they went all out,
they went gung-ho

to try to take down Richard.

After all this effort,
Richard was acquitted.

Alice Martin suffered
a huge defeat,

ruined her possibility
for a federal judgeship

and I can imagine what
it did to her ego.

- [Narrator] After a second
embarrassing loss for Martin,

prosecutors in the
Middle District

sought to capitalize on Richard
Scrushy's bad reputation

that had been completely smeared

after years of
constant negative press

by targeting him for
another prosecution.

- Even though Richard
Scrushy prevailed

in that first SEC and
mini criminal trial,

his public reputation
was smeared.

There was so much
negative publicity

in the state of Alabama,

particularly Northern
District Alabama,

that people would yell at him
and say bad things about him.

So he was set up for someone
that could be brought in

to the Siegelman case after
they lost the first indictment.

- [Narrator] With hardly any
time to recover from the trial,

Canary began threatening
Scrushy with another charge

unless he testified
against Siegelman.

- My attorneys talked
with the prosecutors

about me being dropped
out of the prosecution

by testifying
against the governor.

The discussion was would
Richard say certain things.

All of them centered
around something

that would have
implicated the governor

in some way that he was
guilty of something,

but every one of them were,
number one, straight-up lies.

None of the situations
they asked me to say

were anywhere near any truth.

There was no way that I could
say any of those things.

As a matter of fact,
I went home that night

and I sat down with my wife

and I told her these are the
things they wanted me to say

and she said "Well you
know those are not true"

and I said "Absolutely"

and the decision was
made by she and I

that I'm not going at all to
go out and lie against this man

and have him go to prison

for something that I
said that was not true

and have to live with
that the rest of my life

and that was actually
what happened.

- [Narrator] Prosecutors
also pressured Paul Hamrick,

the governor's former
chief of staff,

to lie under oath.

One investigator working
under Leura Canary

stooped to an even lower level

when he cornered Hamrick
in a courthouse elevator.

- At a pre-trial hearing
at the federal courthouse

is when one of the
agents, Bill Ong,

commented to me I had no choice

but to give the testimony
that they had told me to give

and when I asked him why

he said well 'cause you've
got two young daughters

and I had no choice
but to do it,

basically threatening me
that they would take me away

from my daughters and I had to
do what they wanted me to do.

There's a place in
hell for that man.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

- So in 1972 I joined
the Republican Party

and I automatically went
on the local committee.

There was only but 11 members
of the Republican Party

in Montgomery, Alabama

and I was very much involved

and really watched
the Republic Party

build here in Alabama.

Unfortunately I watched
some of the people

that I thought were not
very credible nor honest

begin to come into the
party as the tide changed.

In 2001, I got a call
from a friend of mine

whose family big Republicans,
longtime Republicans

and he said "Tommy, I want
you to come to a meeting

"that we're having,
local Republicans"

and I said "Well what
kind of meeting?"

He said "Well, we've got a plan.

"We've been able
to get Leura Canary

"appointed US Attorney

"and Congressman Bob
Riley that's gonna run

"against Don Siegelman
for governor"

and he said "You're
gonna be surprised"

and I said "Well, what?"

And he said "Well, our plan
is to indict Don Siegelman."

"You know, you
gotta tell me more.

"You mean you're gonna
use political prosecution

"to indict somebody in the
middle of a political race?"

And he said "Well that's
what they tell me."

- [Interviewer] Who is they?

- He said that he
thought Karl Rove

was supposed to
come to the meeting,

Riley, I later found out,
Abramoff, Scanlon, Bill Canary.

I said "Look, I don't
want to be a part

"of anything like this.

"Count me out."

And I said "Just this
political prosecution

"is just not the way to go."

And so that's the
last I heard of it

until the middle of the campaign

between Bob Riley
and Don Siegelman,

I pick up the paper, Don
Siegelman's been indicted

and I thought holy Moses,
are these people for real?

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] The friend
who told him about

the Republican plan to use
the judiciary to take over

Alabama was longtime Republican
operative Winton Blount

who has since passed away.

Blount had once been chairman

of the Alabama Republican Party

and for decades the Blount
family has been well known

among the established
ranks of the GOP.

With a strong motive and means,

these Republicans
had an opportunity

to complete their sinister plan.

- A new poll came out in
October that showed us winning.

After all they'd thrown at him,

Governor Siegelman was
still going to walk away

with the nomination
and was gonna pose

a serious threat to Bob Riley.

10 days later Don
Siegelman was indicted.

- [Narrator] The key
allegation made by prosecutors

was that Richard Scrushy
bribed Governor Siegelman

with $500,000

for a seat on the Certificate
of Need Review Board,

or more commonly known
as the CON Board,

a committee that regulates
healthcare facilities

around the state.

During the investigation,
prosecutors discovered

that a mid-level aid
in the administration

was on the take.

Unbeknownst to everyone
in the governor's office,

Nick Bailey took bribes
totalling more than $100,000

for special favors.

- Nick was called in the
investigation of Siegelman.

He left the administration,

cooperated with the FBI
and the Justice Department

and eventually pled
guilty himself.

- [Narrator] Facing
as much as 30 years,

Bailey's attorney George Beck

brokered a deal with prosecutors

to receive a lighter sentence

if he agreed to testify
against his former boss,

Governor Siegelman.

However, there was a catch.

He would not be sentenced
until after testifying

in the Siegelman trial,

obviously ensuring a
convincing testimony.

- Nick and I became
very good friends

and he confided in me about
his treatment by the FBI

and by the Justice Department.

Nick was interviewed
dozens and dozens of times

by the Justice
Department and the FBI

about what he might know
related to Siegelman

and what he might know
related to other matters.

The two people on the
frontline for the government

were Steve Faega
and Louis Franklin.

He confided in me that they
had, in essence, coached him

and so this process began
as trying to help him

become more consistent
in giving his answers.

- As they were warming up for
trial, Nick would call me.

He would just be distraught,

I mean just emotionally a wreck.

They wanted to press him
into saying something

that he couldn't say

and I would just encourage him.

I'd say come on, Nick,
stand up and tell the truth

and don't let these prosecutors

make you tell anything otherwise

and if you have to go to prison,
you have to go to prison,

you did wrong.

- Louis Franklin, one of the
prosecutors, US attorney,

got so upset with Nick that
they almost came to blows.

Nick was afraid he was gonna
have to defend himself.

I think most people
think Faega is tough,

but he's sort of a pro's pro

and I think the
impression of Franklin

is he's sort of a jerk's jerk.

He's sort of a self-righteous.

He prosecutes with a
chip on his shoulder.

After Louis Franklin and
Nick got to a point where

they could not communicate,

Steve Faega became
the point person

on getting Nick
ready for the case.

Faega would point out
inconsistencies with him

and so Faega helped
him edit his testimony

so that it would be consistent.

I think most people would say

he was giving him the answers.

- There was a point
where they threatened him

with bringing family members
into this investigation

and that was really
when Nick broke.

(gloomy piano music)

- He was trying to
protect his family.

He was trying to
protect his own self

and he was also trying to
get a reduced sentence.

- The day the trial started,

he said "Amy, I've
had to change sides."

He said "Well, I
don't have a choice.

"I really don't have a choice."

And he said "I just hate
what's getting ready

"to happen to Don.

"I just hate it, he
doesn't deserve this.

"I've got to do this perfect.

"I've gotta be
excellent on the stand.

"How well I do is
gonna determine

"how much time I spend in prison

"and I've got to do
the best that I can."

- [Interviewer] He did say that?

- Oh yeah, absolutely
he said that

and I said "Well, Nick,
what are you gonna do

"when the lawyers, if they
ask you that on the stand?"

And his whole demeanor changed.

I mean immediately
he just looked off

and he became very
stoic and robotic.

"It was a pay for play,
it was a pay for play.

"Money exchanged for favors.

"That's all it was."

I let him finish and
then all the sudden

he just looked back at me like.

(solemn piano music)

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(solemn music)

- I've worked in every
state in the Union

in the almost 40
years I've done this.

Alabama surpasses
any other state

in terms of I think what
a lot of people would call

the dirtiness of its politics.

- Alabama has a famous
tradition going back decades

of being the jurisdiction
where you could indict

and convict a ham
sandwich if you wanted to.

- Well, I think they anticipated

that there would be a
certain amount of backlash

from the community as a
result of the acquittals.

The media had been
extraordinarily negative

at least as to Richard.

By putting them together you
have the classic situation

where jurors believed
something must be wrong,

they must be guilty of something

because the government
keeps indicting them.

You know, this is a wholly
separate prosecution,

but there's no question
that it was a second bite

at the apple for the
Department of Justice.

- They wanted maximum
political damage done

to Don Siegelman and the charges

that were brought against him,

charged him for
everything you can imagine

that a politician
could be charged for,

bribery, improper contracts,

awarding things on the
basis of financial interest,

every possible ethics violation.

- We learned that they were
basically reopening this case.

Once it was coming back to life,

we requested a meeting

and I asked them if they had
made a charging decision.

They told me no.

We made certain
disclosures to them

and had an open
discussion with them.

It didn't result in any sort
of deal being made between us,

but I subsequently found
out that on that day

when I went to that meeting,

they had already
indicted Richard Scrushy.

So clearly they had made
a charging decision.

We move to dismiss based
on the government's

misrepresentation to me and
it was denied by the court.

- [Interviewer] They lied?

- Yes, they lied to me

and they admitted during the
hearing that they lied to me.

That was the most
significant lie

that has ever been told to
me by a federal prosecutor.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] Prosecutors
filed multiple charges

against former Governor
Siegelman, Richard Scrushy,

Siegelman's former chief
of staff Paul Hamrick,

and former Alabama
transportation
secretary Mack Roberts.

The trial was held in the
Montgomery Federal Courthouse.

- [Woman] And with just three
days before the primary,

gubernatorial candidate
and defendant Don Siegelman

boarded his tour bus
after court today,

heading for the campaign trail.

- I imagine the governor
will let us the begin

the day after the primary.

- [Man] You think
that's calculated?

- I do think it's calculated.

- Pleading guilty was not
even discussed, not an option.

Usually when somebody's
kinda thinking

well maybe this sounds
kinda bad or something,

they tell their lawyer
see what you can work out.

Never happened.

- There would have
been no conviction

if the government
could not prove

that there was an agreement
or a quid pro quo,

something for something.

That's how bribery is proven.

So they put Nick Bailey
on the witness stand

for the government and they
grill him for four days

and over and over and over again

they have Nick Bailey say
that he and Don Siegelman

had an agreement
with Richard Scrushy

that they would appoint
Scrushy to the CON Board

in exchange for contribution.

Over and over again, did
you have an agreement, yes,

did you have an agreement, yes,

and they had Bailey repeat
this over and over again

trying to beat it
into the jury's head

that there was in
fact an agreement,

thus a bribery charge.

- And Nick Bailey accused me

of handing the governor a check.

He said that Richard came in,

he gave a check to the governor,

then he said "I saw the check"

and he said it had
Richard had signed it

and it was a HealthSouth check.

Well, that was not true.

- [Narrator] Bailey also
testified that he personally

saw the check was
dated July 19th,

that it was drawn off of
a HealthSouth bank account

and that it had Richard
Scrushy's signature on it.

However, there was a big
problem with his testimony.

Records showed that the meeting
took place on June 29th,

almost three weeks
before the check was cut.

So there would be
no possible way

that he was telling the truth.

There was also
another big problem.

Prosecutors never
produced a check

to corroborate
Bailey's accusation.

In fact, the check prosecutors
entered as evidence

came from an entirely
different company,

Integrated Health Services
from Baltimore, Maryland.

This contradicted
Bailey's testimony

that it was from HealthSouth
and signed by Scrushy.

- Come to find out
there was a company

called Integrated Health
Services that did give a check,

but they didn't give him a
check till like July the 19th.

- It's not rocket science, man.

If the meeting
occurred on this day

and the check was
cut weeks later,

how could he have taken
that check to that meeting?

It didn't exist.

- [Narrator] The other
250,000 that prosecutors said

was part of the bribe was a
properly recorded donation

from HealthSouth to the
Education Referendum.

However, this transaction
occurred one year later

as he was leaving the CON Board.

Hardly a time to
pay off a bribe.

- There was no direct evidence

that Don Siegelman said give
me a $500,000 contribution

for the lottery campaign
and I will appoint you

to a seat on the
health siding board.

There was no explicit
evidence or testimony

with regard to that.

It was only implied and
under the Mccormick rule

that is not sufficient to
have a successful prosecution.

- [Narrator] In fact, it
was impossible for Siegelman

to have personally benefited
from the arrangement

because of two
important reasons.

One, he never received any
money or personal gain.

He simply raised funds

that went to non-profit
organizations.

Lastly, Siegelman was not
a guarantor on the debt

until after the referendum
had been defeated.

- I don't know of
any other politician

who was accused of
conspiracy charges

because he solicited
and received

a political contribution.

I know of other Americans who
made political contributions

to presidential
campaigns, for example,

and who ended up, rather
than being in jail,

being ambassadors.

- When we talk about bad faith,

you talk about bad
faith charging,

this was as bad a faith
example of misprosecution

as any that I have seen
in my years of study

of misconduct by prosecutors.

- And just so you know
how ludicrous this is,

this theory of bribery
that I'm describing

has never been used
in this country,

in any federal court
in this country.

Note, the Justice
Department had never pursued

that theory of bribery.

- [Narrator] Scrushy had
served on the CON Board

for the previous 12 years

under three earlier
governors from both parties.

During that time, he
and other board members

had donated directly to those
governors' campaign funds,

the same thing that happens
thousands of times every year

with virtually all
elected officials.

In this case, however,

the donation did not even come
from Scrushy or HealthSouth

and it went to a
separate 501c3 fund

that did not personally
benefit Governor Siegelman.

There are also logical
reasons Richard Scrushy

didn't bribe his way
on to the CON Board.

- As chairman of the transition
team for Governor Siegelman,

I tried to find the best
people in the state of Alabama

that could serve him
as Governor of Alabama.

I went to see Richard Scrushy.

He and I sat down and
had breakfast together.

I said "Richard, you
served three times.

"You know the CON Board
better than anybody else

"I can name

"and I want you to consider
serving another term

"on the CON Board."

What did Richard Scrushy say?

"No, I will not serve
another term on that board.

"I've served three different
governors in the past.

"I do not want to do it."

- I was asked by Elmer Harris,

who was chief of
his transition team,

and he asked me to serve

and I said "No, Elmer,
I'm not gonna serve."

It takes an entire
day every month.

I'm running a
Fortune 500 company,

a New York Stock
Exchange Company,

it takes a day to prepare,
it takes a day of your time,

so that's two days a month,
we only have 20 working days,

I just can't do it.

- I said "Now, Richard,

"what I want you to do if
you're not gonna tell me is

"I want you to tell me that
you will seriously reconsider."

- And he said "You're the
most qualified person we have.

"You run the largest
healthcare company

"in the state of Alabama.

"We want you to serve."

I said I'd do one year.

Out of a three-year term, I'll
serve one year and that's it.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(gloomy music)

- [Narrator] The judge on the
case was Mark Everett Fuller

who had been appointed by
the Bush Administration

four years earlier.

- We basically got
nothing from Judge Fuller.

The best comparison I could make

would be if you think
about the movie Gladiator

where people are fighting
on numerous fronts

with numerous
people against them.

That's how the trial felt.

Not only am I fighting
against the government,

I'm fighting
against the evidence

submitted by the government,

but I was also
fighting with the court

and it was a losing battle

in that motions
that we would file

that are normally
granted without any
serious consideration

were absolutely denied.

Trials are supposed to be fair

and not inherently prejudicial.

- After the jury was
sent out to deliberate

and they came back with a note,

they asked the judge can
a campaign contribution

be a thing of value
under that statute

or do they have to
find that Don Siegelman

benefited personally?

Faega jumps up and says

"The campaign contribution
can be a thing of value

"and it doesn't matter whether
you got a personal benefit."

Another argument he makes is
that it can be a thing of value

if he gets it
directly or indirectly

through some other foundation.

What's even more remarkable

that Judge Fuller says
a thing of value can be

something that improves
someone's political capital

on a platform on which he ran.

So Don Siegelman ran the
platform of a lottery

for an education referendum.

- [Interviewer]
Doesn't make any sense.

- It makes no sense.

It's all a bunch of crap.

- Every person that is
probably sitting over there

on any committee or any
board or any commission

or a cabinet members I'm
sure have contributed

to the current governor
or any governor.

- It was obvious to us that
Don and Richard had won.

I mean, they didn't
even put on a defense.

They hit it out
of the ball park.

I mean there was no way that

the prosecution proved their
case and we all knew it.

- And then they went out and
ultimately we got the verdict.

(gloomy music)

- Eventually the jury comes
back and throws out 25 counts

of the 32 counts that
were against Don Siegelman

and the sentence that he imposed

was an exceedingly
harsh sentence,

seven years and four
months of imprisonment.

That's a long sentence
for a situation where

Don Siegelman did not
personally benefit.

- [Narrator] The jury
acquitted Siegelman's

former chief of
staff Paul Hamrick

and former state transportation
secretary Mack Roberts

of all charges.

In June of the next year
at the sentencing hearing,

Judge Fuller, upon handing
down their sentences,

ordered both Richard
Scrushy and Don Siegelman

to be taken away immediately

with no time to say
goodbye to their families

or get their affairs in order.

- He had him bound and shackled

and carted off to
prison on the spot,

whereas almost any common
criminal in federal court

would be allowed to
report at a certain date.

I think that showed where
this guy was coming from.

- They shackled this man and
drug him out of the courthouse.

I mean it was like
something you would think

took place in a
third world country.

Sometimes I wonder if
I'm even close to that.

- Immediately our
lives have changed.

I mean when he was sentenced,

I was in such utter
shock I couldn't,

I didn't feel like
I could breathe.

Two weeks it took
me to recuperate

and kind of gain
my composure again.

- I have a place down at
Seagrove Beach, Florida

right next to Rosemary Beach.

Karl Rove, I saw him
pedaling around on a bicycle,

poor guy looked like Elmer
Fudd or something, you know.

I then talked to a US
attorney, Steve Faega,

who I saw from a distance
and I thought it was him

going into Karl Rove's
house at Rosemary Beach

and they had a party there

and it was after
the Siegelman trial

and I don't know
if the prosecutors

should be attending a
party with Karl Rove.

- I don't think he ever
thought for a moment

they actually were so malicious

as to continue to
persecute and prosecute him

until they got a conviction

and I think that's what
shocked him more than anything.

- Thank you.

God bless you and God bless
the great state of Alabama.

(applause)

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] Since the
Siegelman Scrushy conviction,

a virtual landslide of new
information has come out

that points toward
their innocence.

Even more disturbing
than the depth

of the misconduct on the case

is the extensive amount
of time and effort

that was spent to
cover it all up.

- It just didn't feel like
there was a level playing field.

That's the best way
I knew to put it.

But then there was the
jury and you thought

you know, this doesn't feel
like a level playing field,

but they can't get to the jury.

But they did.

(gloomy music)

- I can't remember exactly how
long after the trial it was,

but I received a letter,
an anonymous letter

in the mail at my office
and when I opened it

it clearly was an email
exchange between jurors.

Unmistakable.

- Some information came
to light that jurors

were possibly communicating
with each other during the trial

where they spoke specifically

about how to convict
Governor Siegelman

and some of their
personal feelings about
Governor Siegelman

and they were not positive.

- [Narrator] The
letter, received by
all defense attorneys,

contained printed emails
between jurors from the case.

Two of those emails were dated
before deliberations began

and revealed that
at least one juror

had actively plotted to
convince other jurors

to vote guilty even before all
the evidence had been heard.

- Jurors nationwide,
state, federal court,

are always instructed that
their discussions about the case

have to occur in the jury room

where all the
jurors are present.

So I mean basically the way
that it appeared in these emails

was that a group of jurors
were getting together

to lobby the other
jurors to convict

and that's just it's improper.

- [Narrator] The emails
were between jury foreman

Sam Hendrix and
juror Katie Langer,

also known as Flipper
by the other jurors

because she performed
gymnastics in the jury room.

They revealed that Langer
held a strong predisposition

against the defendants

whom she pejoratively
referred to

as the governor and the pastor.

Scrushy occasionally
preached at a local church.

In one message dated
before deliberations,

Langer continued to
pressure juror 30 to convict

before all the evidence and
arguments had been heard.

It also revealed
that she and Hendrix

had accessed
outside information.

With an obvious lack
of impartiality,

Langer said that all
public officials are scum

and that both defendants
were up shit creek.

Later, she even
referred to Siegelman's

and Scrushy's
previous acquittals,

stating "They missed
before, but we won't"

as though her influence in
this trial could make up

for how she thought those
other trials should have ended.

Both Hendrix and Langer
have since denied

sending or receiving
those emails.

When the defense brought
the matter to the court,

Judge Fuller surprisingly
ordered the defense

and the prosecution
to drop the matter

and not investigate
their authenticity.

- It would have, almost
without question,

caused a mistrial.

In other words, the
original verdicts

would have been thrown out

and we would have been
on for a new trial.

The jurors were
emailing each other

and conducting basically
strategy sessions.

That could have been
easily disclosed

simply by going to the ISP
providers with an order

and getting all of those
emails and just seeing

are these emails that were
revealed to us anonymously,

are they genuine.

We were denied.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(gloomy music)

- [Narrator] Several
months later,

Jill Simpson, a local lawyer
and republican activist

who had been working for years
to dig up dirt on Siegelman,

had a change of heart.

She provided defense
attorneys with an affidavit

describing how she witnessed

Alabama Republicans use
the Justice Department

to target Siegelman for
political prosecution.

Her story caught the
eye of 60 Minutes

and was featured in their
lead segment on the case.

- [Man] A Republican lawyer
from Alabama, Jill Simpson,

has come forward to claim
that the Siegelman prosecution

was part of a five-year
secret campaign

to ruin the governor.

- Jill, because of the
way she came forward

to report ethical violations

of the Justice Department
of the United States,

of Karl Rove in instigating
for political reasons

an improper, unfounded
political prosecution

of Governor Siegelman by
the Justice Department,

she had an ethical duty to
report this and she did.

So her affidavit
accurately reported

a telephone conversation
that Jill Simpson had

with Bill Canary,

the head of the Business
Council of Alabama,

Rob Riley, the son of
Governor Bob Riley of Alabama,

and in the conversation
the subject was

how to prevent
Governor Siegelman

from running again in 2006.

- Bill Canary assured her,

when she was working on the
campaign against Siegelman,

"You don't have to
worry about Siegelman.

"Don't worry about Siegelman.

"My girls are gonna
take care of Siegelman"

and she said "What do
you mean my girls?"

and he said "Well, my
wife Leura Canary,"

who's the US attorney in the
Middle District of Alabama,

and Alice Martin
who's the US attorney

in the Northern
District of Alabama,

"They'll take care of things."

- [Narrator] During
their investigation,

60 Minutes also found
that prosecutors

withheld exculpatory evidence

involving their key
witness, Nick Bailey.

- [Man] Bailey told us that
before the Siegelman trial

he spoke to prosecutors
more than 70 times.

He told us that the
prosecutors were so frustrated,

they made him write
his proposed testimony

over and over just to
get his story straight.

- That got them so frustrated

that Bailey couldn't
get his story straight

that they asked him
just to write it out.

We were trying to get every
bit of that information.

We asked for that.

The government's
response was well,

if Mr. Bailey wrote out his
testimony, we don't have it.

That would easily be
another way to overturn

Governor Siegelman's conviction.

- [Narrator] Bailey claimed
that he handed the notes

over to his attorney, George
Beck, for safekeeping.

Beck, the attorney
that cut the deal

for him to testify
against Siegelman,

has denied ever
having the binder

containing those notes
in his possession.

- After the 60
Minutes report aired,

I mean they all...

Everybody ran around like
their hair was on fire

denying this had ever happened.

Nick's attorney claimed
he never had a binder

full of questions and answers.

All of things that
Nick had confirmed

to the people at CBS.

- [Narrator] The 60 Minutes
bombshell gave the defense

the national
attention it deserved,

however, there was
more to Simpson's story

that was not covered
in the report.

- And then when Jill
Simpson indicated

that Rob Riley further
went on to tell her

that they had a judge picked out

to preside over
any Siegelman trial

and this judge was Mark Fuller

and he could be counted
upon to hang Don Siegelman.

- [Narrator] When Fuller
received his appointment

by the Bush Administration
to the federal bench,

he vacated his job
as district attorney

in Enterprise, Alabama.

As then governor, Siegelman
filled the position

and a customary
audit was performed

on Fuller's old office.

The result found that
Fuller had misappropriated

over $300,000 in
state retirement funds

when he spiked the salary
of one of his employees.

Although no charges were filed,

it was a clear
case of misconduct

and very embarrassing for
a new up-and-coming judge

to be seen as dishonest.

Fuller blamed Siegelman
and publicly stated

that the governor's actions
were politically motivated.

- Don Siegelman
called his hand on it.

The judge was
publicly embarrassed.

The judge even
commented in the paper

that Don Siegelman had
damaged him politically.

- This was an issue that
caused a major embarrassment

for Mark Fuller.

Instead of doing the right
thing and recusing himself,

Mark Fuller saw that as an
opportunity for payback.

- This judge had a political
beef with Don Siegelman.

How did he end up
sitting on the bench?

He was the chief judge of the
Middle District of Alabama.

So he could do basically
what he wanted to do.

All he had do is say I don't
have a conflict of interest

and that's the end of story

and that's exactly
what happened.

So we ended up with a judge
with a conflict of interest

and a prosecutor with
a conflict of interest

and when those things
are mounted against you,

it's almost
impossible to prevail.

- He sat as judge in this case

and he ensured that there
was not a finger on the scale

supporting the prosecutor,

but a fist coming down on
the side of the prosecution,

ensuring that this case was
gonna result in a conviction.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

- [Narrator] Almost
immediately after Siegelman

filed his appeal with the
11th Circuit in Atlanta,

his attorneys received a letter

from the Department of Justice

admitting to their
own wrongdoing.

- During the appeal of Don's
case to the 11th Circuit,

we get a letter from the
appellate lawyer named Stemler.

I guess her conscious
was hurting her.

Anyways, she wrote a long
letter to the lawyers

and confessed that what
the government had done

with regard to some juror emails

that we had gotten
anonymously after the trial

that showed jurors were
communicating back and forth,

which is a big no-no.

- [Narrator] If you recall,

the matter regarding
juror emails

between Katie Langer
and Sam Hendrix

was taken for Judge Fuller.

The defense asked the court
to subpoena the ISP providers

to find out if those emails
were in fact legitimate.

Judge Fuller denied
their requests

and instructed both sides
to simply do nothing.

Defense attorneys believed
the matter was over,

however, unbeknownst
to them at the time

the prosecution
secretly took action.

- Louis Franklin had
asked the Marshals Service

and the Postal Inspectors

to investigate the
authenticity of the email.

Well that was on the tee.

Are they authentic or not?

If they're not
authentic, forget it.

They're authentic, big
problem for the government.

So we get what I call
the Stemler letter

and she said "I just want to
let you that Mr. Franklin,

"one of the prosecutors,
had asked the Postal Service

"to investigate the
authenticity of the emails

"and in fact they did
and they determined that

"they were not genuine"

and we never heard about that.

- They withheld the
information until such time

that we could not use it.

They informed us
of this information

after the appeal had
already been filed.

- [Narrator] Even
though the letter stated

that the emails
were not genuine,

the defense had no
way of verifying

whether the investigation
was conducted properly

or even at all.

Regardless of whether the
emails were authentic or not,

the issue highlights
four major problems

that each alone should have
brought about a new trial.

One, the prosecution
defied the judge's order

to not investigate the matter,

ex-parte communication
occurred when prosecutors

discussed the issue in
private with Judge Fuller

and outside the presence
of defense attorneys,

there were failures
to disclose when, one,

prosecutors deliberately
suppressed their efforts

from the defense and when
the Department of Justice

admitted to withholding
key information

up until the moment the defense

no longer had any recourse
to rectify the misconduct.

- We filed motions
in the 11th Circuit

to try to get a special
master to investigate this,

but by that time the thing
had moved on to appeal process

and it's just not a good forum

to investigate
that kind of thing.

The Constitution demanded
we be told about that

and we were not.

Something needs to be
done about that one.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(solemn music)

- These were obviously
incredibly disturbing things

that people were hearing

and then it was followed up
by a letter by a paralegal,

Tamarah Grimes,

who was a member of
the prosecution team,

to the Attorney General
of the United States

outlining a series
of irregularities

that she was very,
very concerned about.

- [Narrator] As a paralegal
working for the prosecution team

Tamarah Grimes
provided an affidavit

revealing multiple counts
of prosecutorial misconduct

she had witnessed
behind closed doors

in the US Attorney's office
before and during the trial.

Supported by emails
and other documents,

she provided hard evidence
that showed Leura Canary

had in fact continued
working on the case

despite her so-called recusal.

Grimes also explained
in greater depth

how Nick Bailey had been
pressured and cajoled

by Faega and Franklin
into falsely testifying

against his former boss
and Richard Scrushy.

Grimes also provided
evidence showing how

FBI agent Keith Baker, a
member of the prosecution team,

could have been in contact
with juror Katie Langer,

aka Flipper, during the trial.

In one email, anther member
of the prosecution team

referred to juror Katie
Langer as Flipper.

The question is how would
someone from the prosecution

have known that juror's
nicknamed Langer Flipper

unless they were in contact
with someone from the jury?

After two years of
following proper procedures

and filing authorized complaints

to the Justice Department,

she wrote a letter to then US
Attorney General Eric Holder

detailing the abuse
and misconduct

she had witnessed while
working with the prosecution.

Eight days later,
Holder fired her.

- You know, when presented
between a question

of clear-cut justice
what is right

and protecting the
institutional interests

of the Department of Justice,

this is never a close call

for the senior figures of
the Justice Department.

They will protect the
image and reputation

of the institution every time.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(gloomy music)

- [Narrator] During the trial,

everyone thought that
former HealthSouth CEO

Richard Scrushy was the
richest man in the courtroom,

but he wasn't.

That honor went to
Judge Mark Fuller.

In addition to his
federal judgeship,

Fuller also ran a company
called Doss Aviation

that relied almost entirely
on government contracts.

Around the same time
the prosecution rested,

Doss Aviation was awarded a
10-year Air Force contract

for a whopping $178 million.

(dramatic chord)

Something that could have
easily been influenced

by White House officials,
including Karl Rove.

- Doss Aviation is a
company that Mark Fuller

was the principle owner of.

So here is a prosecution

against Governor Siegelman
being brought by the government

and here's Mark Fuller
wearing his hat as a judge

in this case where
he's also wearing a hat

as a major contract,

beneficiary of major contracts
with the federal government.

- I looked at one point
at corruption sentences

that were handed
down for politicians

who actually engaged
in corruption

and it's like two years,
two and a half years,

that's sort of the norm.

He's been in for
four and a half years

and he didn't engage
in any corruption.

I mean it really is just
completely outrageous

and that's because of
Mark fucking Fuller,

you know, that crook.

He should be in jail.

I mean he should be in
jail for violent crimes.

- [Operator] What's going on?

- [Kelli] I'm in a domestic--

- [Operator] Excuse me?

- [Kelli] A domestic dispute.

- [Operator] Okay, with
yourself and who else?

- [Kelli] I'm
calling, I need help.

- [Operator] What's your name?

- [Kelli] Kelli Fuller.

- [Operator] Okay, do
you need an ambulance?

- [Kelli] Yes, please.

- [Operator] Kelli?

(whacking)

Kelli?

(whacking)

Okay, she needs an ambulance.

I'm sending the police.

They're in a domestic fight
now at the Ritz-Carlton.

- [Kelli] Please help
me, he's beating on me.

I hate you, I hate you.

- [Mark] I hate you.

I hate you too.

- [Operator] We're the EMS.

I need the address
of your emergency.

(mumbling)

- [Narrator] In August of 2014,

Atlanta Police were
called to a luxury hotel

in downtown Atlanta where they
arrested Judge Mark Fuller

for violently assaulting
his wife Kelli Gregg Fuller.

The report stated that he
had repeatedly struck Kelli

several times in the face

and even pulled clumps
of her from her scalp.

For the assault, Fuller
received a nominal sentence

for domestic abuse.

Fuller was forced to
resign from the bench.

In a scathing report issued
after the investigation,

a judiciary committee
found that Fuller

had abused his wife
at least eight times.

The report also
stated that Fuller

had made false statements
to the court years earlier

that caused, quote,
"massive disruption

"and loss of public
confidence in the court."

The report also suggested
that impeachment

should still be considered

even though he had already
resigned from the bench.

- That's the judge who
oversaw this entire process.

That's the judge that
these prosecutors

desperately wanted to
have handle the case.

A criminal judge,

not the judge who sits
in criminal cases,

but a judge who is a criminal

and who was ultimately
removed from the bench

based on his violent
criminal behavior.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

- [Narrator] Justice
Don Siegelman

had been convicted
in Fuller's court,

our story returns full
circle from where it began.

The Riley Administration
that once relied

on under-the-table contributions
from Indian gaming interest

to get him elected governor

was now using his position
as the state's top lawmaker

to provide those Indian gaming
interests with protection.

It was Choctaw casino
cash that secretly funded

the Riley campaign to
defeat Siegelman in 2002,

but now the Republican
governor had a new benefactor,

the Poarch Creek Indian tribe

who operated two
casinos in Alabama.

Looking to expand his
influence even further,

Governor Riley summoned
Milton McGregor,

owner of Victoryland, the
state's largest casino

and primary competition for
the Poarch Creek Indians,

to his office in
the state capitol

with a point blank demand.

- When I met with Bob Riley
at his request at lunch

in the governor's office
at the state capitol,

within 10 minutes
after me walking into
that conference room

with him, he made it real clear
what he wanted to talk about

was me hiring Rob Riley
as one of my attorneys

and it wasn't a request,
it was like a demand,

which didn't sit
very well with me.

I didn't tell him
I'd think about it.

I told him no.

The meeting did not
go well at all because

the more he talked, the
more I got offended.

We got loud enough that his
receptionist opened the door

and asked if we were all right

because we were getting pretty
loud in there, he and I both.

- [Narrator] Riley critics,
including McGregor,

call his demand for payment as
nothing more than extortion.

Instead of cash under the table,

payment would come in
the form of legal fees

paid to the law firm owned
by his son Rob Riley,

thus appearing as a normal
business transaction.

A few weeks after his
demand had been rejected,

Riley set his sights
on McGregor once again

when he created a
new organization

called the Illegal
Gambling Task Force

with the intention of
shutting down Victoryland

and other smaller
gambling venues

that were considered competition
for the Indian casinos.

- Hello, I'm Governor Bob Riley.

I believe we're blessed
to live in Alabama.

We have a quality of life

that is unmatched anywhere
else in the world.

I never want to
see anything happen

that would degrade
our quality of life

and there's no doubt in my mind

that gambling does degrade
our quality of life.

It corrupts Alabama and hurts
the people who live here.

So I signed an executive
order in December

to create a task force
on illegal gambling.

This task force, with
the help of state

and local law
enforcement officers,

is designed to make sure
Alabama's laws against gambling

are uniformly enforced in
all of our communities.

- He announced he was forming
an Illegal Gambling Task Force

is what he called it, but it
was only a few weeks after that

that he sent state troopers
at four o'clock in the morning

to Victoryland without
a search warrant,

raiding us, closing
our business down,

something that you would expect

in Nazi Germany 60 years ago.

According to the news report,

over 100 state troopers
came to Victoryland

like a Gestapo crowd.

- [Narrator] Although
later that same morning,

a judge ruled that
the surprise raid

was completely unconstitutional,

it only fueled Riley's efforts
to shut down Victoryland.

After Riley failed to
extort protection money

from McGregor in the
form of legal fees

paid to his son Rob Riley,

he joined forces
with newly-elected

Alabama Attorney
General Luther Strange

and together they rewrote
state gambling laws

that would force
Victoryland's closure.

Although traditional
one-arm bandits

are not allowed in Alabama,

state law does permit the use
of so-called bingo machines

even though the two are
virtually identical.

In an aggressive move,

Strange drafted so-called
memorandums of understanding

that legally redefined
Victoryland's machines

as illegal slot machines,

but in a second memo
Strange defined those

at the Poarch Creek
casino as bingo machines,

thus legally permitted for use.

Weeks later, as the
state's top prosecutor,

Strange then ordered all
Victoryland's machines

to be removed, forcing
them to close their doors

and lay off hundreds
of employees.

The motive behind their
actions became clear

when an article published
by the Montgomery Advertiser

revealed records showing that
the Poarch Creek Indian casino

donated $350,000 via a national
Republican organization

to Riley-affiliated pacts
with $100,000 of that money

funneled directly to
Luther Strange's campaign

for Attorney General
the previous year.

Publicly, the Riley
Administration opposed gambling,

but privately they were pulling
in millions in casino cash.

- The Riley machine on the
face was against gambling.

In reality, under the
table and secretly,

they took millions of dollars
from the Native Americans.

That money was used
to elect Bob Riley

and other Republicans.

Once they got in office,
they repaid the Indians

by shutting down Victoryland
and other gaming facilities

that competed with
the Native Americans.

It was that same
Bob Riley machine

that transferred
millions of dollars

into the Attorney General's
office to continue the fight.

- [Narrator] Despite
the chorus of decent,

Leura Canary continued
as federal prosecutor

for another three years

under Attorney
General Eric Holder

and the Obama Administration,

just enough time for one
more October surprise

when she indicted Milton
McGregor and 10 others

on federal racketeering charges.

- 11 defendants named
in the indictment

are charged with forming
a corrupt network

of legislators,
businessmen and lobbyists

whose aim was to manipulate
the Democratic process

for personal gain.

- Then we had a trial
and we were declared

not guilty on every
single charge.

That ended it.

- [Narrator] Another
example of Governor Riley

using the judiciary as a weapon

was when he approached then
Alabama attorney general

Troy King who disagreed with
him on the gambling issue.

First time I really
personally encountered

overzealous
prosecutors being used

as political pawns and weapons

was in a meeting I had with
the Governor of Alabama

where we were talking
about the gambling issue.

At the end of the
meeting, the governor said

"Well tell me about
your grand jury."

And I looked at him dumbfounded.

I said "What are
you talking about?

"What grand jury?"

And he said "Well you
know you have a grand jury

"investigating you, don't you?"

I didn't know it and I
told him I didn't know it

and his response was to
stand up, look at me and say

"Well, if we can get on
the same page on gambling,

"I think everything
will be okay"

and to turn around and
walk out of his office

and I'm here to tell you

when political
prosecutions occur,

when there can be a difference
of opinion over the law

and the reaction is to
try to put people in jail

for disagreeing with you,

that has no place
in the public arena.

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(gloomy music)

- Bob Riley gives a lot
of credit to Karl Rove

for being the architect,
sort of the mastermind

on how to do certain
things that they did.

- We know, everybody knows

that Karl Rove had a game plan.

He was the architect.

- We're at the DNC in Charlotte,
North Carolina in 2012

and I had a hunch that Karl
Rove was around the corner.

I actually did spot him walking
down with his security guard

in the hallway and
I went up to him

and he must have thought I
was a reporter or whatever,

so I stuck out my
hand and I said

"Mr. Rove, I'm Dana Siegelman,
Don Siegelman's daughter"

and said it just like
that and he went berserk.

As soon as I introduced myself,

which I thought I
did very politely,

you know, sir, Don
Siegelman's daughter,

I just wanted to
meet you and say,

he cut me off right away,

started shaking his
finger in my face

and said "Tell your dad not
to use my name to make money."

And he kind of, he
nearly spit in my face,

but he got up in my face

and told me how
much he hated Dad

and he was gonna ring
Dad for all he was worth

and how dare I come up to him

and he got so
flustered and red-faced

and just basically
ran after he realized

that he had just like
basically gotten in my face

and that there were camera
crews coming towards us,

he just started to run.

- [Narrator] When the
House Judiciary Committee

ordered Rove to
testify about his role

in the Siegelman case
and the attorney firings,

he simply refused to
honor the subpoena,

citing executive privilege.

In the months following his
no-show before the committee,

his lawyers eventually
cut a sweetheart deal

with the House
Judiciary Committee.

Instead of testifying
under oath,

he was only required
to answer questions

behind closed doors
without being sworn in

and the session would
not be recorded.

This eliminated
any legal recourse

for lawmakers to
hold Rove accountable

should he make false statements

and essentially made
his testimony worthless.

What no one knew at the time

was that one of his attorneys

that quietly made
those arrangements

was Eric Holder while he was
working as a private attorney

and just months
before he was sworn in

as Attorney General in
the Obama Administration.

- The RNC and Karl Rove were
represented by guess who?

At Covington and Burling,

right before he went
in as Attorney General,

none other than Eric Holder.

- The law firm that represented
Karl Rove at that time

and had for years and
probably does today

is the law firm that
Eric Holder came from,

Covington and Burling.

- [Narrator] Little known
to most of the public,

just before Holder became head
of the Justice Department,

he was paid a
multi-million dollar salary

as a partner at
Covington and Burling,

a high-powered DC law firm
with deep Republican ties.

Covington's current
and former client list

reads like a who's who
of some of America's

most tarnished organizations,

including Halliburton,
Enron executives,

Philip Morris and many
of the Wall Street firms

at the heart of the
so-called great recession,

none of whom were held
responsible by the DOJ

for their role in the
financial disaster.

Covington's website even
boasts of representing the RNC

after thousands of emails
were mysteriously erased

and presumed unrecoverable,

emails that many believe
would have proven

that another Covington
client, Karl Rove,

was the ringleader behind
both the attorney firings

and the Siegelman case.

As Attorney General,
Holder tapped Lanny Breuer,

a former colleague
of his at Covington,

to head the Justice
Department's Criminal Division.

- Congratulations.
- Thank you.

(applause)

- [Narrator] Breuer's
group oversaw

the Milton McGregor prosecution.

- This morning, federal
agents began arresting

11 individuals.

- [Man] Federal prosecutors
say they've uncovered evidence

of a widespread corruption
scandal in Alabama.

- [Narrator] A case so weak
that it ultimately resulted

in across-the-board acquittals
for all 11 defendants.

This raises a very
serious question,

why would the
Justice Department,

under another political party,

allow a case so obviously
tainted by corruption

to go forward if there
were not some kind

of insider influence involved?

- Really the one that I think

needs to be investigated
more than anybody

in this whole Siegelman, whole
prosecute the Democrats thing

is Eric Holder.

Nobody's laid a finger on him.

- [Narrator] Could Holder's
ties with Covington clients

Karl Rove and the RNC be the
reason he personally fired

DOJ paralegal Tamarah Grimes
for providing strong evidence

of prosecutorial misconduct
in the Siegelman case?

Obviously Rove and the RNC
would have wanted to minimize

any fallout from
potential malfeasance,

however, as Attorney General

it was Eric Holder's
responsibility

to notify all parties involved
of his conflicts of interest

stemming from his
work at Covington

and to recuse himself
from any cases

associated with those clients.

Instead, he chose
to hide that fact

and even took it one step
further by firing Grimes

in an attempt to silence
the damning evidence

she provided against
Rove and Leura Canary

and many others in the
Justice Department.

Legal critics also
cite Holder's ties

to Karl Rove and the RNC

as the reason Canary,
a Bush appointee,

remain prosecutor
for three more years

under the Obama Administration

despite her
conflicts of interest

and repeated allegations
of misconduct.

Those same critics also ask
why the Justice Department,

to this day, still
refuses to release

thousands of documents,

including the results
of an internal

DOJ investigation of the case,

a report the defense
attorneys say

would reveal the
rampant misconduct

by numerous DOJ officials.

(gloomy music)

- I wrote to President Obama
and to the Attorney General,

pointed out the
travesty of justice.

I have not heard a
word from them on it,

not that they owed
me a response,

but I thought that the
gravity of the injustice

of this case

merited some correction

by the White House
and we haven't seen it

and I'm bitterly
disappointed by it.

- [Narrator] During the House
investigation into the matter,

an email surfaced from an
unidentified federal prosecutor

sent to Rob Riley who
was working on his
father's campaign.

In the email, the
sender complained that
he had been, quote,

"thwarted" for beginning
an investigation

into the Siegelman
Administration.

That person also stated
that it was, quote,

"frustrating for me
and a small group

"of like-minded
Conservative prosecutors

to, quote, "fight the tide
in order to do the job

"we were sworn to do."

The question is why would
a federal prosecutor

who began the
Siegelman investigation

make such a plea to Rob Riley

unless they and the Rileys
were united in their efforts

and the biggest question arises

why did this prosecutor
plainly identify themselves

as a Conservative prosecutor
to another Conservative

if politics were not involved?

(gentle music)

(clicking)

(solemn music)

- There was so many
strains of wrongdoing

that I and a group
of attorneys general

felt we should get involved,

we should do
something about this.

So a committee, a
bipartisan committee,

two Democrats, two Republican

together with Jeff
Jeff Modisett,

the former attorney
general of Indiana,

and Bob Stephan of Kansas
and Grant Woods of Arizona,

we acted as a steering
committee to try to reach out

to former attorneys general

to see if they
would get involved

and indeed over the course
of the investigation

and the prosecution
and the litigation,

former attorneys general
did a number of things.

There were briefs filed in the
United States Supreme Court,

amicus curiae briefs.

One of those briefs got 91

former attorneys
general to sign on

and a later brief got 113
former attorneys general.

Never before in the
history of the country

have so many attorneys
general chimed in

on an issue before the
United States Supreme Court

and these were Democrats
and Republicans,

Liberals and
Conservatives, Moderates.

They represented virtually
every state in the Union,

all united saying somebody's
gotta look at this case.

- That's unprecedented in
the history of the country.

Never happened before,
won't happen again

and these are people who
have spent their lives

enforcing the law,

being prosecutors
for the most part,

being their state's
top prosecutor

and yet all of them
came together to say

what happened to Don
Siegelman wasn't right

and you guys need to
take a look at it.

So that should say
a lot to people.

- [Narrator] Despite
hundreds of letters

written by many of
America's top legal minds

to members of Congress, the
Supreme Court, the White House,

and the Department of Justice,

pleas have fallen on deaf ears

and no meaningful
action has been taken.

- You have well over 100
former attorneys general

who have said that
this isn't a crime,

13 New York Timed editorials,
this isn't a crime,

Conservative commentator George
Will, this isn't a crime,

Neil Cavuto on Fox News,
this isn't a crime.

I mean, the echos are amazing
that this isn't a crime

and people are flabbergasted

about how these gentlemen
ended up in prison.

- [Narrator] After
serving over five years

in federal prison,

former Alabama
governor Don Siegelman

was released on
February 8th, 2017

to home confinement
for several months.

He will remain on
probation until 2021.

- Here's what I do know.

I do know that I was innocent
and the governor was innocent

and we both went
to federal prison.

Why?

At the end of the day, why?

- Richard Scrushy
spent six years,

almost six years in prison
away from his family

and all he had to
do was tell one lie

and he wouldn't have
done one day in prison.

- You know, I'm taking
away from my family

and my little ones and my wife

and just beat down and
shamed and humiliated

and tortured for five
years in a federal prison.

Come on.

Let me put you in some chains

and lock you up at about
2:30 in the morning

and let you and unhook you
late that night, next night

and give you a bottle
of water and that was it

and you call it what you want.

When you can't scratch
your head, you can't turn,

you're sitting on a cold floor,
you're freezing to death,

you're soaking wet because
they made you stand out

in the rain in the
middle of the winter,

marching you around
with shotguns on you

and you tell me that's not
torture, it's not harassment.

I can't event talk
about some of the things

they put us through

and they put the governor
through that kind of stuff.

I had one guard tell me one
time "Listen, I tell you what."

I said "Sir, I'm very sick.

"I gotta get some medicine,
you gotta help me out.

"I mean, I'm coughing, very
sick and respiratory problem"

and he said "I tell you what,

"when you can't get
up off that floor

"I'll call us a doctor.

"When you can't get
up off that floor."

I mean all you can
do is just pray.

Yeah, I haven't
even opened the door

to what we went through.

If I told you, you know,
it's some tough stuff

and I have to deal with
that the rest of my life.

- [Narrator] Siegelman
spent two lengthy periods

in solitary confinement.

One lasted 45 days

for speaking to a radio
host on the phone.

Corrections department
officials have forbidden him

from speaking with
anyone from the media.

This 20-year pursuit to get
Siegelman out of the way

has been staggering in scope

and a boon for
lawyers and lobbyists.

The government spent an
estimated $50 million plus

on multiple investigations
and prosecutions.

To date, Don Siegelman
has spent over $3 million

in his defense,

not to mention the
attorney fees incurred

by his codefendants
and hundreds of others

questioned along he way.

The Choctaws paid Abramoff
and Scanlon over $20 million

to defeat the
education lottery fund

and then to oust Siegelman

before he could enter
national politics.

An election was stolen
after 6,000 votes

mysteriously disappeared
in the middle of the night.

Those ballots, obtained
by Rove client Bill Pryor

have never been seen or counted.

Pryor also initiated a
four-year baseless investigation

of Siegelman that found nothing.

Charges brought by Pryor

and another Rove
protege Alice Martin

were described by the judge as
the most baseless prosecution

he had seen in his almost 30
years on the federal bench.

Federal prosecutor Leura Canary,

wife of the campaign manager
of Siegelman's opponent

and Rove partner,

then kicked another federal
investigation into high gear

and then lied about her recusal.

Canary's indictment of Siegelman

marked the first
time in the history

of American jurisprudence

that a properly recorded
non-profit contribution

was considered a
form of bribery.

Canary and other Rove associates

strategically planned
the trial to occur

so that prosecutors
could publicly accuse

Siegelman of bribery and leak
false allegations to the press

just before an election.

Stephen Faega and Louis Franklin

committed multiple forms
of prosecutorial misconduct

when they scripted Nick
Bailey's prepared testimony

during an unheard of 100
plus meetings with him.

They illegally withheld Bailey's
notes from those meetings

when they should have
been admitted as evidence.

Franklin and Faega also
threatened Bailey for years

to falsely testify
against Siegelman

or face a lengthy
prison sentence,

untruthful testimony that
the DOJ officials knew

would lead to a conviction.

Faega and Franklin
also threatened

multiple witnesses
to lie on the stand

or face prosecution,

some of which were later
tried and convicted

under similarly
specious circumstances.

Rove associates arranged
for a hanging judge

and Siegelman political
foe Mark Fuller

to be assigned to the case,

a judge so crooked
that he was eventually

forced off the bench for
perjury and domestic violence.

When the prosecution
rested their case,

Fuller's company was quietly
awarded a government contract

for a whopping $178 million,

a contract that could
have easily been arranged

by Rove or other
White House officials.

After the trial, emails
emerged showing that jurors

inappropriately tried
to convince other jurors

to vote guilty before all the
evidence had been presented,

however, Fuller
demanded that both sides

do nothing to determine
their authenticity.

Later, a letter from
the Justice Department

admitted that prosecutors
defied the judge's order

to not look into the emails.

Then prosecutors actually
met with Judge Fuller,

but without the defense present.

That ex-parte communication
could have easily

brought about a mistrial.

However, the letter was
strategically submitted

to the defense when Siegelman

could no longer use
it in an appeal.

In 2008, Tamarah Grimes,

a paralegal working
with the prosecution,

blew the whistle on what went on

behind the prosecution's doors

and confirmed what
everyone knew all along,

Canary, in fact,
continued her involvement

despite her so-called recusal,

Franklin and Faega strongly
pressured Nick Bailey

to falsify his testimony,

and the prosecution
inappropriately communicated

directly with a juror
during and after the trial.

All represent strong ground
to overturn the verdict.

Then former Rover
associate Jill Simpson

testified before Congress
that before Siegelman's trial,

Rove business
partner Bill Canary

told her that,
quote, "his girls"

would take care of Siegelman

and that's exactly
what Alice Martin

and his wife Leura Canary did

when they both indicted
Siegelman in separate cases.

Simpson also said
that Siegelman's
opponent's son Rob Riley

would have Mark Fuller
assigned to the case,

and that he was, quote,
"willing to hang Siegelman."

As Siegelman sat
in federal prison,

Rove and the RNC paid millions
to Eric Holder's law firm,

Covington and Burling,
to convince lawmakers

and Justice Department
officials to turn a blind eye

to their overwhelming levels
of corruption they committed

regarding the missing
emails, the attorney firings,

and the Siegelman case.

After Holder became head
of the Justice Department,

he continued serving his clients
instead of serving justice

by shutting down
multiple investigations

into Rove's scandals
so that no charges

were ever brought against Rove
or other Covington clients.

Despite the 20
years of countless

Justice Department man hours,
corrupt political dealings,

stolen votes,
trumped up charges,

millions in legal
expenses, a rigged court,

massive prosecutorial
misconduct, judicial abuse,

recusal lies, false testimony,
secret government contracts,

shady deals, juror misconduct,
and the subversion of justice

committed by Rove
and the many others

to carry out this
malicious prosecution

and wrongful conviction,

Siegelman was never
recused or convicted

of putting one
penny in his pocket.

This overwhelming injustice
has remained covered up

for over a decade now and
the people that perpetrated

this fraud on the court
have never so much

as been questioned, much
less held accountable.

In fact, most of
them have moved on

or maintained very
powerful positions.

As head of the Business
Council of Alabama,

Bill Canary can forcibly
influence legislation

because his lobbying firm
provides so many candidates

with the campaign funds they
need to remain in office.

Leura Canary remained
federal prosecutor

for three more years
under Eric Holder

and the Obama Administration

where she continued to
indict many Republican foes.

She's now the General Counsel

for the Retirement
Systems of Alabama.

- When your
government goes awry,

goes crazy and does not
follow the Constitution,

then justice is not served.

- [Narrator] Several
months after certifying

that 2002 election
two days early,

Rove client and former Alabama
attorney general Bill Pryor

was appointed to the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals

where Siegelman lost
two separate cases.

Although Pryor was not
assigned to either case,

both three-judge panels
were a Republican majority.

- Bill Pryor, in my
experience with him,

was a complete
partisan hack, frankly,

and that was very unusual.

He stood out.

I'm saying as a Republican I
would feel very comfortable

voting for Richard
Pryor over Bill Pryor.

- [Narrator] Former
governor Bob Riley

runs Riley and Associates,

another large
Alabama lobbying firm

that funds many Republican
political campaigns,

including all members of
the Alabama Supreme Court.

As attorneys, Rob Riley and
his sister Minda Riley Campbell

have been awarded
no bid contracts for
the state of Alabama

as well as representing others

seeking a political advantage.

Stephen Faega left the
prosecutor's office

and now serves as
Deputy Director

of Enforcement and Prosecution

for the Alabama
Securities Commission.

- What can you do?

You can't give a
man his life back.

These people should
be prosecuted.

They should go to jail.

They should lose
their law licenses.

They should be punished.

- [Narrator] Louis Franklin
is still a federal prosecutor

and continues to maintain
close associations

with Bill and Leura Canary.

Unsurprisingly, he's
never acknowledged

any prosecutorial misconduct
in the Siegelman case.

- We expect more than that

of prosecutors in the
United States of America.

We're better than that.

We're supposed to be the best
and generally we are the best.

In this case, we were the worst.

- [Narrator] Since
coming forward,

Jill Simpson has endured
significant hardships.

The Alabama State Bar
placed her on disability

and she's been the target
of multiple attacks.

- The initial two attacks were

she's driving along the road
and SUV comes up to her side.

She does go off the
road, car overturns,

and she was injured
but survived.

Second attack was a fire
bombing of her home,

which again she survived.

- [Narrator] George Beck,
the attorney that arranged

for Bailey to testify
against Siegelman and Scrushy

and said to be in possession
of Nick Bailey's missing notes,

was selected by the Obama
Administration and Eric Holder

to replace Leura Canary
as Federal Prosecutor

for the Middle
District of Alabama.

- Given what we now
know about the case

and all that went wrong,
all of the misconduct,

why the government would
continue to try and shield them

and retain and withhold
their documents

after all that's been
publicly disclosed already

is something that's just
truly astonishing to me.

- [Narrator] A few
days after the trial,

juror Katie Flipper Langer
reached out to prosecutors

with a request.

She decided to trade in
her leotard for law books

and enrolled in law school.

She's now an Alabama
state prosecutor

working with colleagues
Matt Hart and Keith Baker.

Alabama Attorney
General Luther Strange,

who accepted Poarch Creek
casino campaign cash

just before shutting down
Victoryland, got a promotion.

He was selected by then
governor Bob Bentley

to replace Jeff
Sessions in Washington.

He's now addressed
as Senator Strange.

- They killed the lottery
by indicting Siegelman,

they got Siegelman put in
prison, the Choctaw Indians,

and they put this
formula together

and it was to make money
through political power.

As Tom Jones said in
the infamous movie

in his song What's New
Pussycat, it is there.

- [Narrator] Thanks
to Eric Holder,

Karl Rove has never been
questioned under oath

regarding the attorney firings,

the missing RNC emails,
or the Siegelman case

and has never publicly
denied his role

in any of the scandals.

However, he was asked
about his involvement

in the Siegelman by
George Stephanopoulos.

- To be clear, you
did not contact

the Justice Department
about this case?

- I read about, I'm gonna
simply say what I said before,

which is I found about Don
Siegelman's investigation

and indictment by reading
about it in the newspaper.

- [George] But
that's not a denial.

- I've, you know...

(dramatic music)