Minor posed a particular threat to Rove’s ambition for southern GOP hegemony. Paul’s passion for a fair and impartial justice system led him to focus extra attention on the critical races for state judgeships. Minor also drew Rove’s ire through his leadership role in the fight against the Bush administration and U.S. Chamber of Commerce tort reform agenda. That campaign would have terminated the average American’s ability to stand up to and recover damages for corporate abuses. Similar to other Democratic victims indicted on bogus charges under Rove’s southern campaign, Paul Minor had little chance to defend himself against the GOP-rigged system.
GOP officials wrongfully convicted Minor of the crime of public corruption bribery. In such cases, black letter case law holds that judges must instruct juries that they can only convict a campaign fundraiser of bribing public officials through campaign contributions if clear evidence exists of a quid pro quo agreement for a specific official act by the recipient in exchange for the campaign contributions. Bush’s crooked Justice Department prosecutors wrongfully prevailed upon a Reagan-appointed judge to withhold that instruction and to allow Minor’s conviction without the explicit proof of a quid pro quo.
Huffington Post
3/20/9
hattip Fyodor1
Magnolia Tribune
