Lindy — do you happen to know what sort of mechanism was used to do the trial reporting: spoken voice recorder, punchpad, or handwritten shorthand? Every courtroom has it’s own method, I’ve found, but most are done in such a way that someone else can transcribe if need be — for obvious reasons, you need back-up in case of a situation like this where the court reporter passes away. I haven’t been able to find any particular information on the method used there, and wondered if there had been in local reporting on that?

Christy I don’t know what the court reporter used at trial, but I do think I have the information you want connected with the transcript. Here’s what happened:

From this article:

Preparation of the transcript was delayed by the death of court reporter Jimmy Dickens in August. Court reporter Risa Entrekin asked the 11th Circuit in November to extend the deadline for completion to March 31, citing her workload and the size of the transcript.

So the transcript is intact, and Entrekin wrote a letter to the Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit, Lanier Anderson, asking for an extension for the transcript, and she got one from Anderson until March 31.

What is confusing some people here, certainly not you, is that the transcript delay has nothing to do with the motion for an appeal bond which was delayed by Fuller, the district court judge who was ordered to issue a memorandum opinion giving his reasons for denial by the two Eleventh Circuit judges Stanley Marcus and Susan Black assigned to rule on the appeal bond, and he balked at first. He was again ordered, and he has issued two opinions that IMHO are horribly written by he and his law clerk, and I linked them above. I know this is way EPUed, but I’ll catch up with you sometime later.

I really have a feeling in my gut that given the sequence of events, although it is rare for a white collar case to be denied a bond–but it happens, and even rarer for the Eleventh Circuit to remand twice on the bond issue, that they have had it with Fuller and they will probably grant the appeal bond soon. I have no idea why they are waiting to rule now. Ball is definitely in their court, and on November 7, 2007 they gave the acting US Attorney in the case Franklin, and Vince Kilborn and David McDonald Siegelman’s attorneys 30 days to file additional briefs on the appeal bond motion.

As you know extremely well, the appeal bond has nothing to do with the transcript in this case. In addition to the 18 U.S.C. § 1343(b)(1)(A)motion that the defendant is not a flight risk/danger to the community, in the Eleventh Circuit, the onpoint case always argued as precedent is United States v. Giancola, 754 F.2d 898 (11th Cir. 1985)where the meaning of a “substantial question” was defined by the panel to be a “close questionor one that could very well be decided the other way.”

When reading subjective language like that in opinions proposed as a standard, I always am reminded from my English major of Coleridge’s “willing suspension of disbelief that constitutes poetic faith” and the Coleridge site on that is Biographica Literaria Chapter 14 (1817) later quoted in T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and even more of Jimmy Buffett’s coment onMargaritaville:

Where’s Margaritaville? Wherever you want it to be!

The last comment may not make sense to you but it means to me that these substantial question arguments which are split in the Circuits are very subjective.

I think Siegelman meets the standards for the Eleventh Circuit in spades.

That article you linked here is simply legally misinformed and naive (and I don’t mean that in a mean spirited tone–its’ author’s heart is in the right place), and it does tell me what happened to the transcript and why it was delayed.

Jimmy Dickens’ (the original court reporter)death and the transcript delay as a result, has nothing to do with the appeal bond releasing Siegelman while he awaits the case appeal process.

Also you should realize that while the transcript isn’t completed yet, that Siegelman’s attorney is a busy criminal attorney who tries large cases all the time and has a lot of appeals going in the Eleventh Circuit. This is par for the course of a busy successful criminal attorney. And that means that when they file their first brief, it’s going to be a good number of pages according to the 11th Circuit Rules or FRAPS, and it’s going to take a considerable amount of work. It’s going to take time–it’s a damn big deal to the attorney and to his client Governor Siegelman. Very likely, in that amount of time, the transcript due in March according to Judge Anderson, will be completed. And as I’ve said repeatedly, the transcript has nothing to do with getting Siegleman out of his cinderblock prison cube; the motions to do that has been made back in June, and it has been remanded twice to Judge Fuller requesting more and better briefing (from his law clerk actually–and maybe Fuller. Frankly after reading those opinions, both of them seem to be equally dim bulbs to me–it was embarassing to read those opinions–but it just goes to show you what can get through a law school and onto the federal bench. Scott Horton said they were pathetic opinions, and I could not agree with him more.

I also suspect that if lawyers here read them, they might concur.

Fuller has little to do with holding up the transcript. If something happened to the original court reporter, (and I now know that he died–I’m sorry)– he is an employee of the AOC or Administrative Office of Courts–the agency that administrates court personnel and equipment and publications and funding for equipment as granted by Congress.

Also the article says that Lanier Anderson, Cheif Judge of the Eleventh Circuit, gave them until March to finish the transcript. Maybe that holds up the main appeal a bit, but I doubt it and here’s why. Depending on the attorney’s schedule, while he had to get the one sentence notice of appeal in to the Eleventh Circuit–that appeal doesn’t start getting looked at or triaged by the Eleventh Circuit until Siegelman’s lawyer writes his brief, and knowing this case and others like it their may well be an amicus brief or two.

If I were Seigelman’s attorney, I’d already be recruiting NACDL to weigh in with a motion for leave to file an amicus brief, in hopes that they would also get oral argument time and provide some valuable help.

Siegelman’s attorney, Vince Kilborn, has written Mukasey a letter to ask him to appoint a Special Counsel. Let me assure you that is part of the publicity he wants as backdrop for his appeal, but the actual chances that Mukasey will appoint any special counsel before he and Bush leave office in January are none and none over zilch to the zilch power cubed. It ain’t gonna happen, and Vince is way to smart not to already know this. As I said before, DOJ is not about to assist in the investigation of this foul smelling case. It’s their piece of shit, or Gonzales and now Mukasey’s piece of shit, and they aren’t about to uncover it for the whole world. It certainly includes Rove, and it probably includes Addington, Miers, and a pinch of Fielding as well–with a a chunk of Cheney as a side dish. The DOJ that Christy knew and LHP knew might have cared about integrity enough to investigate, but I promise you, although Mukasey promised Chuck Schumer he’d look at this case, he’s not going to do diddly squat to investigate it via a Special Counsel. If he does anything, it will be internal DOJ–or let me help you with the concept–Fox/Hencoop. I seriously doubt whether Glenn Fine’s OPR gets involved in this.

The front or lie to the world from DOJ is that they avoided any inpropriety by replacing the scumbags and political puppets Leura Canary and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Alice Martin with someone from the public integrity section of DOJ to try Siegelman–so there are no problems with the case.

Most defendants who are white collar are granted an appeal bond, but when they don’t get one at the trial court level, the transcript has nothing to do with it. Sometimes they don’t get one. We’re in the Eleventh Circuit here. Let’s take an example. Bill Campbell was a successful attorney, who had been a assistant U.S. attorney a few years back. He became Mayor of Atlanta. He was tried and convicted, and he was denied an appeal bond. He appealed this denial to the Eleventh Circuit, and they denied him, and about a year ago they released a written opinion on his appeal.

In contrast to the appeal of the conviction, the motion for an appea bond is a simple motion filed in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 1343, particularly 18 U.S.C. § 1343(b)(1)(A)–arguing that your client shows by “clear and convincing evidence” that he/she is not likely to flee or pose a danger to another person or the community. In the Eleventh Circuit, you’re also going to argue that you meet the “substantial question burden” according to good ‘ole United States v. Giancola, 754 F.2d 898 (11th Cir. 1985), which defined “substantial question” as “a ‘close’ question or one that very well could be decided the other way.”

Judge Fuller did hold up his opinions on the appeal bond, even after the Eleventh Circuit remanded his ridiculous opinion back to him requiring more explanation, and while the remand was unusual, Fuller’s delay was not that unusual and nothing in the Judicial Cannons (as your article referenced incorrectly) is going to touch Fuller’s conduct–and frankly rarely does anything in the Judicial Cannons remotely touch anything a judge gets away with. They don’t have a Judicial Cannon for stupidity, and they don’t have a Judicial Cannon for when a federal judge completes part of an appellate panel from St. Elsewhere and knows as much as my dog (maybe less) about the precedents in the circuit or how the circuit analyzes legislative history on the FREs (Federal Rules of Evidence) or some other Federal Rule. They don’t have a Judicial Cannon for pure rudeness, and lack of empathy which is what Fuller exhibited when he held up his opinions on bale for two months during one remand and 3-4 months during another.

They are very broad; and when a rare complaint is lodged it is considered by the Eleventh Circuit (in this venue) Disiplinary Committee and you had better believe the foxes guard the hencoop. It is extraordinary–think once in a life time if that for a bell shaped curve of federal judges ever to be disciplined. The last time any significant dicipline was meted out to a federal judge Alcee Hastings was impeached by the House in 1988 and convicted by the Senate in 1989 and removed from the bench. He now is in the House of Representatives. Is this a great country or what? The Senate could have but did not prevent him from seeking federal office again. His alleged co-conspirator by the way went to jail rather than testify against Hastings during the impeachment and he was later given a full pardon on his last day of office by William Jefferson Clinton. I believe that this William Clinton is married to someone who is running for office–I’ll have to check–isn’t her name “Grrrrrr Meet Me in Cleveland Ohio?” I’ll get back to you when I confirm that he is married to the Clinton running for President and her waterloo on March 4.

Here’s the way this works:

Siegelman’s appeal bond (i.e. his getting out of prison while he awaits the average 18 months that it will take for the Eleventh Circuit to decide his appeal) has nothing to do with the timing of the completion of his transcript. What often happens with a transcript delay, is that you call the Court Reporter or the attorney has already communicated with them during the trial or at the end of it and has a good idea of what their work load is. Here’s a typical actual example: Court reporter breaks up with boyfriend at the end of a trial and decides to move out of state. You call her and see what can be worked out. She decides to hunker down and finish the transcript expeditiously, or may wantto do her move before finisihing–and whatever else she has to work on can figure into this equation. It is also possible in some instances when the funding is available, and the equipment allows now more frequently, to request “dailies” or the transcription of that day’s procedings in the trial court. In many instances now,depending on equipment used, the judge can see the transcription in real time on his or her screen.

In this case, the court reporter died, and it is up to the Administrative Office of Courts and the District Court executive in Birmingham at the Northern District Court in Alabama to promptly replace the dead court reporter. At first I was confused because some commentor said “the recorder died”, but now I know they meant the court reporter.

When a trial court judge denies bond, as obviously has happened here, you simply appeal that denial to the Circuit court of appeals which in this case is CA 11. There is no need for the trial transcript in this case for the Eleventh Circuit to rule on appeal–and unless the defendant had exhibited extraordinary behavior in the courtroom, the transcript has nothing to do with them granting appeal bond. I do remember an extraordinary instance where at sentencing the defendant urinated on his Federal Defender who was his attorney. That kind of conduct on a transcript is not conducive to an appeal bond and then the transcript would probably be excerpted by the government if an appeal bond were an issue in such a case–but again, ordinarily the transcript does not figure in the motion for an appeal bond–it is required for the appeal of the trial itself–a different matter entirely.

After Libby was found guilty, you’ll recall, there was posting of motions for his appeal bond all over the web, before he would have been required to report to the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) that I believe Christy and others were posting here and Marcy was linking at her site back then.

Shortly before Libby was to report, and just after the D.C. Circuit denied him an appeal bond, Bush stepped in and commuted his sentence. Libby dropped his appeal, reasoning that if he was granted a new trial intead of a complete reversal, and Bush was gone from the Oval by that time, he might well be convicted and in that real world, President Obama would crack open a bottle of bubbly the day he had to report to prison. Now there is speculation that Bush may soon grant him a full pardon. If Obama wins the election, and I think he will, I think you can take a Bush full pardon to the bank. He has already (or his benefactors have including Tucker Carlson’s rich daddy) paid his fine.

The transcript is needed and will be provided for the appeal of the case in March. The extension for transcription ordered by Judge Lanier Anderson because a new court reporter was appointed may be holding up Siegelman’s appeal by a few months, but given the timing of the Eleventh Circuit, if Siegelman’s case is one of the 17.5% that are granted oral argument in the Eleventh Circuit, that will take an average of 18 months. And as I said, it is going to take time for Siegelman’s attorney to craft the first appellate brief anyway. He hasn’t filed it yet.

Here’s what happens and all of this is according to a briefing schedule that the clerk will initiate once Siegelman’s appeal is filed–according to very specific timing dictated by the FRAPS (Federal Rules of Appelate Procedure) and each circuit has tweaked those rules according to their own FRAPS.

Keep in mind again, Siegelman’s getting out while his appeal works its way has nothing to do with this transcript delay.

An appeal is filed with the Eleventh Circuit. Like other federal Circuits, although this varies a little as to staffs, they have a large number of attornies who are “staff attornies” who screen the appeals. If an appeal is decided to have enough merit, and this is unfortunate because we’re talking about 17.5% currently that make the cut, it will be granted oral argument and put on the oral argument calendar–and the panel of 3 judges will not be announced until shortly before oral argument.

If it is one of the 82.5% of cases in the Eleventh Circuit that do not get oral argument, there will be a per curiam ruling. This opinion may only have a simple couple sentences that say the appeal is “affirmed.” That is quite a profound short changing for a defendant, but it’s the way the system works. This has happened over the years because of the exponential explosion of cases on appeal which occured after Congress passed a series of laws to deal with drug offenses–mainly crack cocaine in 1986.

I would have also done so when I remanded to Judge Fuller the second time. Out of respect for Fuller, they didn’t put a time frame on the remand after his first order denying Siegelman’s appeal, but given his obfuscation and the time he and his law clerk took in issuing a routine Giancola denial of an appeal bond, I would have taken charge of the timeframe when the trial judge clearly indicated he was going to play glacier and hold this appeal up.

I find judges and congressmen don’t get a sense of what their blithe disregard for time in other peoples’ lives is doing until they become defendants, and that doesn’t happen often enough (although a bus load of Republican Congressmen have gone to prison and Delay is on the way).

The last judge I remember who felt the pressure of a federal investigation was Judge K. Michael Moore, Sourthern District of Florida in November of 1992 and was part of the opinion in >U.S. v. Cerceda, 139 F.3d 847 (11th Cir. 1998.

And while your focus allows you to get a chuckle out of secularhumanizinevoluter, s/he just does a great job of pissing me off with the jeering ebonics version of Obama rhetoric.

Das OK! Affer Obama takes over ever thang gonna be jes FINE! We’re gonna HOPE an CHANGE ALLLLL da bad shit away!!!! Sunlight gonna stream down in inspirin rays of possibilites an we’re gonna never have no winter, no snow, nor bad teeth nor NOTHIN cause OBAMA gone SAVE US ALL by bringin us ALL TOGETHER!!!!!! Hey, who’s dat guy named Rezko talkin deals wit da prosicuter?

Rezko is no one you have to worry about, unless you think he could implicate you one day with Fitz. If you have any substantive evidence that Rezko is ‘talking deals’, I’d sure like to see it. Rezko is going to trial, and if you can use the google, you can find out who he is.

I always get a chuckle out of the people who think Tony Rezko has anything to do with President Obama. Maybe you confused the name Rezko with Hsu, or Mark Rich whose wife paid a $400,000 bribe to get a pardon while he was a fugitive, or possibly Frank Guistra and Kazakistan Bill dealing for the $31.5 million

That “shame on you” really appeals to that octaginarian white women with less than a high school education demography doesn’t it?

Meet her in Ohio baby–she’s pissed off and ready to rumble during her death rattle.

If you want sunshine, then someone connected to Siegelman needs to set up a blog or website exposing the prosecution, like this person is doing; http://trewthe.wordpress.com/ A great way to get helpful annonymous information.

Meanwhile, it’s a sure thing that DOJ snitches are taking turns buddying up to Siegelman, so he needs to be careful.

RICO this whole administration.

Aide: Mr. President, there’s somebody here named Rico. Says he needs to see you real quick.

Dubya: Ask him what it’s about.

Aide: He says he’s here to take out you and your entire administration.

Dubya: What? Is he inviting us on a date?

Aide: No Mr. President. I think he’s with the police.

Dubya: Police? Inviting us on a date? I don’t understand. Will somebody get me Jeffie Gannon? He might be able to help me out with this handcuffs and dating thing.

I’m also reading that the hatchet jobs are rolling out against anyone covering the story…at least locally.