By Bob Johnson, Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – The key witness against former Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy was released from federal prison Wednesday.
Former longtime Siegelman aide Nick Bailey was released from the federal penitentiary in Atlanta and transferred to a halfway house in Birmingham. Bailey, who held various positions during Siegelman's terms as governor and lieutenant governor, served one year of an 18-month sentence on bribery-related charges.
Tuscaloosa businessman Stan Pate says he picked up Bailey early Wednesday and drove him to Birmingham. Bailey worked for Pate for several years before reporting to prison last year.
Bailey provided the key testimony that led to the 2006 conviction of Siegelman and Scrushy on bribery and other charges in a government corruption case.
Bailey testified that Siegelman told him that Scrushy had agreed to arrange $500,000 in contributions to Siegelman's 1999 campaign for a state lottery in exchange for Siegelman appointing the then HealthSouth CEO to a hospital regulatory board.