One of the Siegelman Prosecution Team Comes in From the Cold

By Scott Horton

In September 2007, I posted “The Remarkable ‘Recusal’ of Leura Canary” reviewing one of the many strange aspects of the Siegelman case. The prosecutor who brought this case is the wife of the most important Republican political consultant in Alabama, Karl Rove’s long-time protege William Canary. As Leura Canary revved up the Siegelman case, William Canary was advising the campaign of Siegelman’s Republican rival. Maybe this is why Alabamans referred to them as the state’s ultimate “power couple.”

Called out on this conflict, Leura Canary recused herself from the case. Or did she? In September 2007, I reviewed the evidence suggesting that the recusal was a sham. And today in a piece by Adam Zagorin TIME magazine raises troubling accusations from one of Canary’s own staffers, who documents in a series of emails that after her “recusal,” Canary continued to manage the prosecution of her husband’s rival. The erstwhile member of the Siegelman prosecution team also documents improper communications by the prosecutors with jurors. All of this is information the Justice Department has known for at least a year and has kept tightly under wraps, suggesting certain questions of obstruction of justice. I offer a look deep inside the Justice Department here.