Ney will be released early

Ney faced as long as 10 years in prison on charges including two counts of wire fraud, making false statements and violating post-employment restrictions for former staffers — crimes largely attributed to his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle also sentenced Ney to serve two years on probation after his release and to pay a $6,000 fine. In addition, he was ordered to undergo an alcohol rehabilitation program while in prison for treatment of an acknowledged drinking problem.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1199369729321200.xml&coll=2


Federal judge explains reasons for keeping Siegelman in prison while awaiting appeal
Calls reversal of conviction unlikely
Thursday, January 03, 2008
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer

MONTGOMERY - Nearly two months after being ordered by an appellate court to explain his reasoning, a federal judge wrote Wednesday that he won't allow former Gov. Don Siegelman out of prison while appealing his conviction because he doesn't believe the conviction will be overturned.

U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller issued a 30-page order ruling that Siegelman should not be freed while he appeals his conviction. Fuller last year sent Siegelman directly to federal prison after he was sentenced to serve seven years, four months in prison for his conviction on bribery and obstruction of justice charges.

Judges with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals twice ordered Fuller to provide a more detailed explanation of his decision, once in September and again in November.

Rove Named in Alabama Controversy
Friday, Jun. 01, 2007 By ADAM ZAGORIN/WASHINGTON

In the rough and tumble of Alabama politics, the scramble for power is often a blood sport. At the moment, the state's former Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, stands convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Siegelman has long claimed that his prosecution was driven by politically motivated, Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys.


White House advisor Karl Rove.
George Bridges / MCT / Landov

Now Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, has been implicated in the controversy. A longtime Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top G.O.P. operative in the state say that Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys.

The allegation was made by Dana Jill Simpson, a lifelong Republican and lawyer who practices in Alabama. She made the charges in a May 21 affidavit, obtained by TIME, in which she describes a conference call on November 18, 2002, which involved a group of senior aides to Bob Riley, who had just narrowly defeated Siegelman in a bitterly contested election for governor. Though Republican Riley, a former Congressman, initially found himself behind by several thousand votes, he had pulled ahead at the last minute when disputed ballots were tallied in his favor. After the abrupt vote turnaround, Siegelman sought a recount. The Simpson affidavit says the conference call focused on how the Riley campaign could get Siegelman to withdraw his challenge.

According to Simpson's statement, William Canary, a senior G.O.P. political operative and Riley adviser who was on the conference call, said "not to worry about Don Siegelman" because "'his girls' would take care of" the governor. Canary then made clear that "his girls" was a reference to his wife, Leura Canary, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, and Alice Martin, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.

Canary reassured others on the conference call — who also included Riley's son, Rob, and Terry Butts, another Riley lawyer and former justice of the Alabama supreme court — that he had the help of a powerful pal in Washington. Canary said "not to worry — that he had already gotten it worked out with Karl and Karl had spoken with the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice was already pursuing Don Siegelman," the Simpson affidavit says. Both U.S. attorney offices subsequently indicted Siegelman on a variety of charges, although Leura Canary recused herself from dealing with the case in May 2002. A federal judge dismissed the Northern District case before it could be tried, but Siegelman was convicted in the Middle District on bribery and conspiracy charges last June.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627427,00.html