(Note: This diary was updated at roughly 6:30 p.m. CDT on 5/17/12 to make clear that certain comments near the end were from Harper's legal-affairs contributor Scott Horton, not Montgomery Independent editor Bob Martin.)
Mark Fuller, a federal judge in the Middle District of Alabama, has seemed virtually untouchable since presiding over the prosecution of former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman in 2006.
Many progressives, and quite a few legal experts across the political spectrum, have contended that Fuller oversaw a blatant selective prosecution. Counsel for Siegelman and codefendant Richard Scrushy have filed appeals stating that Fuller had multiple conflicts of interests and made numerous improper rulings of law--only to see at least some of the convictions upheld.
Now it looks like Fuller's wife might be able to accomplish what numerous lawyers and commentators could not--show that the judge in the Siegelman was seriously compromised in a variety of ways.
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