Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy filed a motion Friday for a new trial, arguing prosecutors failed to turn over key evidence about a lead witness before his 2006 trial.
“The material at issue is Brady material which the law and the Constitution require be provided to the defense,” Scrushy attorney Arthur Leach said in a news release. “The fact that it was not strongly suggests a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct by the U.S. Department of Justice similar to what was revealed in the trial of former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens.”
Leura Canary (gov)
Scrushy and Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) were convicted on bribery and corruption charges in 2006. The government alleged Siegleman had improperly appointed Scrushy to a hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy donating $50o,000 to a campaign for a state lottery that Seigelman supported. Scrushy and Siegelman say the prosecution was intended to remove a popular Democratic governor.
U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama Leura Canary, the wife of Republican operative Bill Canary, says she recused herself from the case in 2002, The AP reports. But the Scrushy motion says a whistleblower in the U.S. Attorney’s office has come forward to say Canary continued to monitor it.
From the Scrushy news release:
In a sworn affidavit in support of the motion, whistleblower Tamarah Grimes, who was part of the U.S. Attorney’s legal team during Mr. Scrushy’s trial, expresses serious concerns over the actions of Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Feaga in preparing [witness Nick] Bailey to testify at trial. Ms. Grimes has now shared those concerns directly with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, according to the motion.
