So what now? That's perhaps the most common question across the Alabama capitol after the BINGO Bribery jury returned not a single guilty verdict from the 120+ counts against the nine defendants. Not one.
The judge himself had already thrown out some of the counts, and the jury dismantled all but 33 of the rest.
On Friday three people attending the conference of Black Mayors in Birmingham called on President Obama to order the Justice Department to toss the remaining counts and let this dog die. No, that's not an exact quote, but it does express the feeling.
What's ironic in that Obama's Senate-confirmed nominee for U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama will be sworn in on Thursday. George Beck is a Democrat. Will he decide to go back to court with the hand left behind and further attempt to prosecute the seven who still have counts against them?
You say I'm dragging politics into it? All but one of the public officials indicted were Democrats, and the one who wasn't a Democrat was ejected from the GOP because she had supported Democrat Bobby Bright. The woman who was running the prosecutor's office was Republican-appointed (though Leura Canary did say she recused herself. Or was it the prosecution of Don Siegelman she recused herself from? Or both?)
There were those secretly recorded Statehouse conversations by three GOP Legislators, and the extraordinary announcement to the Democratic Legislative leadership about the FBI probe into the House-approved Bingo legislation, a bill that then died in the State Senate.
It was born of politics and perhaps should die of it too.
But what of the three who plead guilty and testified against the other nine? Their testimony didn't accomplish much.
Will they still serve however many years in prison was in their deal? They did testify that they had paid bribes. But to whom?
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