By Alabama Public Radio
Birmingham, AL – A federal judge is raising the possibility that former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy could be jailed over pretrial publicity in his fraud case. Federal Judge Karon Bowdre's ruling came after testimony in Wednesday's hearing showed that Scrushy apparently approved the release of a defense statement criticizing government witnesses earlier this week. Bowdre had issued a protective order in April to keep publicity at a minimum. She withheld a decision Wednesday on whether to hold the defense in contempt of court of violating that order.