Don Siegelman
Don Eugene Siegelman (born February 24, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician and convicted felon who held numerous offices in Alabama. He was the 51st Governor of Alabama for one term from 1999 to 2003. Siegelman is the only person in the history of Alabama to be elected to serve in all four of the top statewide elected offices: Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor. He served in Alabama politics for 26 years and also sentenced to serve a term of seven years in prison.
After the expiration of his governorship, two of Alabama's United States Attorneys began a criminal investigation against him on accusations of corruption while in office. Indictments came in 2004 and again in 2005, and in 2006 he was convicted on corruption charges. Since then there have been counter-accusations by various former attorneys general and officials that his prosecution was intentionally wrongful. On March 6, 2009, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld key bribery, conspiracy and obstruction counts against Siegelman and refused his request for a new trial, finding no evidence that the conviction was unjust. The Court struck down two of the seven original charges and ordered a new sentencing hearing, opening the possibility that Siegelman's seven-year prison sentence might be reduced.
Read more about Don Siegelman: Personal Life and Earlier Career, Career As Attorney General, Governorship, 2002 Election Controversy
Famous quotes containing the word don:
“When you think of the huge uninterrupted success of a book like Don Quixote, you’re bound to realize that if humankind have not yet finished being revenged, by sheer laughter, for being let down in their greatest hope, it is because that hope was cherished so long and lay so deep!”
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948)