More Judicial Horseplay? Paul Minor says Judge Henry Wingate piled on extra prison time

[Bozita]

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/more_judicial_horseplay_073008/

More Judicial Horseplay?
Paul Minor says Judge Henry Wingate piled on extra prison time—after making it easier for the feds to convict him.

by Adam Lynch
July 30, 2008

Imprisoned attorney Paul Minor is arguing in Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal filings that presiding U.S. Southern District Court Judge Henry Wingate showed bias against the defense in his 2007 trial by changing his jury instructions from his earlier 2005 trial, and by ordering that evidence be removed from the 2005 trial that had stalled the jury’s guilty verdict in that case.

U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton retried Minor on federal corruption charges after he failed to convince a jury in 2005 that Minor had bribed a judge. In the second trial, Wingate ruled out the necessity of proving quid pro quo—that any money or services were actually exchanged with a judge, which would typically form the basis of proving bribery. The removal made it easier to get a conviction.

Wingate also increased Minor’s sentence after his conviction to 11 years, beyond federal guidelines.

Minor’s appeal arrived in the wake of an April congressional report on the alleged politicizing of the U.S. Department of Justice under President George Bush and former White House adviser Karl Rove. Rove has ignored congressional subpoenas to testify under oath on his alleged tampering in federal investigations against Democrats.

The report, “Allegations of Selective Prosecution in Our Federal Criminal Justice System,” names incidences of possible political targeting against Democrats and Democrat fundraisers in Michigan, Georgia, Alabama, and—in Minor’s case—Mississippi.

The U.S. Department of Justice refused Minor’s recent motion for release pending appeal on Monday. Minor argued that his wife is dying of cancer, with only months left to live, and that he would have already served the sentence Wingate would have imposed had be not extended it beyond federal guidelines.

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[midnight]

1. This is a huge outrage. This man needs to be let out of prison.

[babylonsister]

2. His wife is dying and they won't let him go:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3699565

[Bozita]

3. kick