Updated: U.S. Supreme Court orders review of Don Siegelman, Richard Scrushy convictions

[brentspeak]

Source: AP

MONTGOMERY -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a new review of the convictions in the government corruption case against former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.

The court's brief order vacated the decision of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had upheld their convictions, and ordered it to review their appeals in light of a ruling that went against what is known as the "honest services fraud" law.

Last week the justices found fault with the anti-fraud law in the case of former Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling, and defense attorneys for Siegelman and Scrushy had hoped that ruling would give them a new chance to challenge their convictions.

Siegelman attorney Sam Heldman, who handled the former governor's case before the Supreme Court, called the court's decision Tuesday "a massive victory."

Read more: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/us_supreme_courts_order_review.html

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Siegelman's conviction itself wasn't vacated; only the appeals court decision was. In any case, hopefully, the conviction will eventually be vacated.