Justice is love in action. 

 For the first time in two years, he’ll be free from prison. He’ll be in court to petition for release pending appeal of his case, which will be heard January 13.

  Many in PDA met Governor Siegelman personally. He was with us at Progressive Central, Denver, 2008.  He met then-House Judiciary Chair John Conyers in our midst.  Conyers and PDA have worked over the years to spread awareness of Don’s political assassination and the unjust use of the Dept of Justice to have it done. 

 But the DoJ never moved to right this wrong.  Until, suddenly,  the federal judge who sentenced Don, Mark Fuller of Alabama, was relieved of his cases due to arrest and rehabilitation for spousal and substance abuse.  

 A new judge is in charge of Don’s appeals, and has granted hearings. Judge Land could set Don free to be home with his family for the holidays. Two years ago, Don’s daughter Dana waged a vigorous campaign to have this happen. Mark Fuller never budged.

 As of this writing, Don is en route to Montgomery, cuffed and shackled, in the custody of federal marshals. In e-mails to his supporters, he wrote of an emotional “last supper” with his fellow inmates in Oakdale, Louisiana, for whom he’d been a guide and legal advisor. They served him a special prison-homemade “last supper” and shared emotional goodbyes. One said he hoped never to see Don again - in prison. Only as a free man. 

 113 former and present state and federal attorneys general have stated, in a letter to the Supreme Court, that the “crime” for which Siegelman was convicted had been uniquely concocted by the judge: “inferred bribery.”  Fuller instructed the jury that they could decide a bribe had occurred even without evidentiary proof.  If this is a crime, they said, every politician in America has committed it. Still, Don’s “disappearance” from the political stage, orchestrated by Karl Rove, succeeded during the Bush years, when the story passed beneath most Americans’ radar. The decade-long saga is documented at http://www.free-don.org/. 

 On Monday, when the governor steps into the courtroom, he and the public will know of our support, and that we’re spreading his story.

 There is an uprising in the streets for justice. After long suffering, Americans of color are demanding the right not to be killed, harassed or targeted by the state when police are racist.  The same is true for targeting due to religion or political opinion. Don has dwelled two years with victims of mass incarceration. He will be a strong voice for justice when he is free. It was - ironically - his attempt to raise funds for a state lottery referendum to fund college for poor Alabama youth that attracted Rove’s attention and spurred investigation, indictment, and prosecution.  

 The governor and his family have suffered. So have many families. But justice will prevail.

#FreeDonSiegelman

 Peace,

Mimi Kennedy

To read the newsletters about Don's departure from Oakdale Prison Camp and the 10 day trip to get to Montgomery: