By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – A sentencing hearing has begun that will determine if former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth C-E-O Richard Scrushy remain free or spend much of the rest of their lives in prison.
U-S District Judge Mark Fuller will sentence Siegelman and Scrushy. They were convicted of bribery and related crimes in a government corruption case. The sentencing hearing is expected to last much of the week.
Prosecutors have asked Fuller to severely punish Siegelman and Scrushy to send a message that government corruption won't be tolerated. Prosecutors have requested sentences of 30 years in prison for Siegelman, 25 years for Scrushy and that both men pay millions of dollars in fines.
Attorneys for the 61-year-old Siegelman and 54-year-old Scrushy have asked that they be given probation. The attorneys have said the sentences proposed by prosecutors would be life sentences because of their ages.
Following a two-month trial, jurors last year found Siegelman and Scrushy guilty of bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud. Siegelman was accused of appointing Scrushy to an important hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging 500 thousand dollars in contributions to Siegelman's campaign for a statewide lottery.
Siegelman was also convicted of obstruction of justice for trying to cover up nine thousand 200 dollars given given to him by a lobbyist to help him purchase a motorcycle.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)