Day: June 21, 2008

Another Minor matter at the 5th Circuit – Hiram Eastland

Paul Minor and former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman now have more in common than the interest of the House Committee investigating selective prosecution by the Department of Justice.

6/17/08

Appearance form filed by Hiram C Eastland for Appellant Paul S Minor.

Bellesouth found this on the Docket at the 5th Circuit – still no accessible copy of the Appeal filed on the 19th; however, the Docket also indicates co-defendant Teel will file an Appeal by the end of the month.

Updates will continue as information becomes available.

Backstrom files “wait a minute Mr. Postman” motion and asks Judge Biggers to “check it one more time for me”

Here I’ve been feeling guilty that Judge Biggers approved the Sun Herald’s request to release of letters written on behalf of the Scruggses and Backstrom. Had I not taken a break from today’s to-do list for a quick read-around, I would not have learned I wasn’t the only one – so here’s a h/t to NMC for the notice and the motion for reconsideration filed by Sid Backstrom. Followed, of course, by my opinion of it all.

Gulf Publishing, by motion of June 17, 2008, has requested that this Court provide it with access to unsolicited sentencing letters addressed to the Judge who will sentence Mr. Backstrom.

Before Mr. Backstrom could respond, the Court, on June 20, granted the motion.

Mr. Backstrom requests that the Court reconsider its ruling…

This Court should exercise its discretion to maintain the confidences and personal information revealed in the sentencing letters submitted on behalf of Mr. Backstrom. The Court should deny Gulf Publishing’s motion to obtain access to these letters.

Weighing the competing public and private interest involved is no simple task even with the extensive case history cited in Backstrom’s motion and an earlier order from Biggers limiting each to three character witnesses suggested the letters were of little, if any, interest to him. Consequently, it’s reasonable to think he saw no reason for denying the request.

Judge Biggers, we can now safely assume, does not blog. Continue reading “Backstrom files “wait a minute Mr. Postman” motion and asks Judge Biggers to “check it one more time for me””

Good Job Brownie! KBR Katrina Work Blasted by the Pentagon. Millions Squandered

I ran across this on Chris Joiner’s blog while first missing it in Thursday’s Sun Herald. Then Halliburton subsidiary KBR was blasted by the DOD Inspector General for doing poor work and squandering millions of dollars in contracts to restore military facilities impacted by Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. Here is the Sun Herald report. Following are excerpts from the Washington Post blog entry that got the reporting rolling:

The Houston-based company’s efforts to repair Navy facilities following Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina were deemed shoddy and substandard, auditors say, prompting one technical adviser to claim that the federal government “certainly paid twice” for many KBR projects because of “design and workmanship deficiencies,” according to a report (see PDF here) released today by the Defense Department’s inspector general.

The report, released following a Freedom of Information Act request, says the U.S. Navy hired KBR, Inc., then known as Kellogg, Brown and Root, in July 2004 to repair Defense Department facilities after Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. The federal government agreed to pay the company $500 million over five years.

At the time, the company was a subsidiary of Halliburton, the Texas oil company, whose former chief executive is Vice President Dick Cheney. Continue reading “Good Job Brownie! KBR Katrina Work Blasted by the Pentagon. Millions Squandered”

A Minor matter before the 5th Circuit

Actually, it’s a pretty major matter if you’re Paul Minor and it’s your appeal. Belle and I’ve been tracking the docket at the 5th and haven’t been able to retrieve any documents – but with a h/t to legalsnauzer, here’s a press release.

Attorneys for Paul Minor have filed an appeal of his conviction with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The brief outlines the following issues that warrant reversal of Mr. Minor’s conviction: Continue reading “A Minor matter before the 5th Circuit”