In 2006, jurors acquitted former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) on 25 of 32 counts the government brought against him for crimes ranging from bribery to honest-services fraud. The government alleged that Siegelman had corruptly sold a seat on a hospital regulatory board in exchange for $500,000 in donations to an unsuccessful campaign to get voters to approve a state lottery. Despite obtaining a conviction on just seven of the 32 counts, federal prosecutors urged the court to increase Siegelman’s sentence based on the conduct for which Siegelman was acquitted. In fashioning a sentence, the district court judge overseeing the case agreed with the government and tripled the applicable federal sentencing guideline range: Siegelman’s suggested range under the sentencing guidelines went from 51 to 63 months, to a whopping 151 to 188 months in prison.
Reproduced with permission from The Criminal Law Reporter, 98 CrL 626, 3/30/16. Copyright 2016 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com
