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Hubbard lawyer calls proposed sentence 'absurd', State Rep. tapped to lead banking department

A lawyer for former House Speaker Mike Hubbard says prosecutors are seeking a "ridiculously extreme" prison sentence after Hubbard's conviction on ethics charges.

Defense lawyer Bill Baxley says the 18-year sentence prosecutors want is absurd.  The attorney general's office, in a court filing this week, says they want Hubbard to spend five years in prison and another 13 on supervised probation.

Prosecutors are also asking for Hubbard to pay $1.6 million in fines and restitution.

A jury on June 10 convicted Hubbard of 12 felony ethics counts. Prosecutors said Hubbard used the power of his political office to benefit his businesses.

Hubbard will be sentenced at a hearing next Friday.

A Shelby County state representative will serve as superintendent of the State Banking Department.  APR Student Reporter Keith Huffman has the details…

Gov. Robert Bentley says Rep. Mike Hill of Columbiana will replace John D. Harrison. Harrison retired yesterday.

Hill served on the House of Representatives Banking and Insurance Committee, now the Financial Services Committee, and assisted with banking legislation for nearly three decades.

Hill earned a bachelor of science from Auburn University and studied banking at Louisiana State University. He also studied commercial lending at the University of Oklahoma.

Hill will serve as superintendent beginning July 5.    

More than ten thousand members of Jehovah’s Witness churches are expected to attend a convention in Mobile this weekend.

The convention is at the Mitchell Center in Mobile.  A convention last weekend was entirely in Spanish. The next two meetings will be in English.

Robert Lee is the Media Service Overseer for the convention. He says they have set goals for the conventions…

“For this weekend, the goal of our regional conventions is to foster the need for one to live by Bible standards, and the second goal of these conventions is to assist Jehovah’s Witnesses to be better equipped to share the good news of God’s kingdom with their neighbors.”

The convention is free to all who wish to come. Next week’s convention will also take place at the Mitchell Center.

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