White House denies pardon for Don Siegelman

President Barack Obama denied former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman’s application for a pardon Wednesday.

In a Jan. 19 letter to Gregory B. Craig, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing Siegelman, William N. Taylor, the executive officer of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, said the request was denied but did not give a reason "as a matter of well-established policy." The letter did say the governor could reapply for a pardon five years after his release.

Siegelman, convicted in 2006 on bribery and obstruction of justice charges, maintains his innocence. His release date on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website is Aug. 8, though the governor told supporters late last year he could be out as early as Feb. 8.

Messages were left Thursday Craig and Joseph Siegelman, the governor’s son.

A federal jury convicted Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy on charges that Siegelman solicited a $500,000 contribution to his 1999 state lottery campaign in exchange for a seat on the state’s Certificate of Need (CON) board, which oversees hospital improvements. The jury also convicted Siegelman on a separate obstruction of justice charge related to the payment of $9,200 for a motorcycle from a friend and supporter. Prosecutors said Siegelman tried to conceal the payment.

Prosecutors said the contribution amounted to a bribe. Siegelman’s attorneys have suggested in the appeals process that the governor was targeted for political reasons, though appellate courts have rejected those assertions.  In October 2015, more than 100 former state attorneys general from both parties asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review Siegelman's sentence, arguing that U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller, who presided over the governor's trial, improperly factored charges on which Siegelman had been acquitted in his sentencing.

Sentenced in 2007, the governor won release on an appeal bond in 2008, but a federal court upheld most of his convictions in 2009. Siegelman returned to prison in 2012.