From the New York Times:

Trial Begins for Former Alabama Governor

Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser, via Associated Press
Former Gov. Donald Siegelman spoke Monday before his trial on bribery and racketeering charges began.
By KYLE WHITMIRE

Published: May 2, 2006

MONTGOMERY, Ala., May 1 — The federal bribery and racketeering trial of former Gov. Donald Siegelman of Alabama and the former HealthSouth chief executive Richard M. Scrushy began on Monday with the judge using his gavel even before opening arguments had ended.

Federal prosecutors have accused Mr. Siegelman and two others — the governor's former chief of staff, Paul Hamrick, and a former state transportation director, Gary Mack Roberts — of taking bribes from contractors in exchange for influence in awarding state contracts.

Mr. Siegelman, a Democrat, has had a long career in Alabama politics, having held most of the executive offices here. Before the indictment was unsealed, Mr. Siegelman characterized the prosecution as a Republican conspiracy against him by the current governor, Bob Riley.

"This is nothing more than a campaign tactic by Bob Riley's campaign manager, whose wife happens to be the U.S. attorney," he said. "We are going to go on. We are excited about getting the trial over. This is the beginning of the end."

Mr. Siegelman, who is running for the office he narrowly lost in 2002, wants the trial in Federal District Court here to be finished before the June 6 primary. Recent polls have shown him in a dead heat with Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley.

Assistant United States Attorney Louis Franklin began his opening statement by reading the oath taken by Mr. Siegelman eight years ago.

"That is the oath that Don Siegelman took when he was sworn in as governor and lieutenant governor," he said. "But the evidence will show that he took the executive branch of state government and he abused it."

Prosecutors have accused Mr. Scrushy of directing $500,000 to pay off debts Mr. Siegelman incurred while campaigning for a state lottery in 1999. In exchange, they say, Mr. Scrushy was appointed to the Alabama Certificate of Need Review Board, a state agency that regulates hospitals. Mr. Scrushy had supported Mr. Siegelman's opponent in 1998 and had to "make things right" with the governor, prosecutors said.

These are not the first federal charges against Mr. Siegelman or Mr. Scrushy. In 2004, a federal judge in Tuscaloosa, Ala., dismissed conspiracy and bribery charges against Mr. Siegelman.

In 2003, Mr. Scrushy was fired from HealthSouth, a chain of rehabilitation hospitals he founded, after a federal investigation exposed more than $2.7 billion in accounting fraud at the company. Last year, a federal jury in Birmingham acquitted him of all charges that he had participated in that conspiracy.

In the current case, the government has obtained plea agreements from several defendants, including Nick Bailey, a former executive assistant to Mr. Siegelman, and a contractor, Lanny Young.

The opening statements on Monday were nearing an end when an argument centering on race broke out among lawyers.

Last week, Mr. Scrushy hired one of the most experienced black defense lawyers in the state, Fred Gray, who defended the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights activist Rosa Parks, among others. When Mr. Gray compared Mr. Scrushy to those defendants, Mr. Franklin, who is also black, jumped from his seat and objected loudly.

"That is why he is here," Mr. Franklin shouted. "That is why he's being paid, so that he could tell the jury that."

Judge Mark Fuller slammed his gavel and called the lawyers forward before sustaining the objection.

After court adjourned for the day, Mr. Scrushy told reporters he had hired Mr. Gray because he was a good lawyer. The prosecution's objection, he said, was a revelation of character.

Mr. Siegelman left the courthouse to campaign in nearby Prattville.

"We had a full day at trial, and now we are going to have a full day on the trail," Mr. Siegelman said.