MONTGOMERY, Al.
Two lawyers who successfully prosecuted former Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy are no longer on the federal government's prosecution team for Alabama's gambling corruption case.
Court records show that Assistant U.S. Attorneys Louis Franklin and Steve Feaga have been put on "conditional representation" status at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, which is leading the prosecution. That means two of the best known prosecutors in Alabama won't be in the courtroom every day when the retrial starts Jan. 30.
All of the lawyers now listed on the Justice Department's prosecution team are from Washington.
"Prosecutors' schedules often change due to other cases and obligations. Based on the expected length of the upcoming trial, some members of the prosecution team aren't available to participate. It isn't uncommon for there to be changes when retrials occur in trials expected to last several months," Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said Wednesday.
Franklin said Wednesday that he and Feaga could not comment on the changes.
The U.S. Attorney in Montgomery, George Beck, said Wednesday that no one with his office is working on the case, and he is glad to have Franklin and Feaga available to handle other cases because he has a full load of pending cases and more investigations in progress.
The government accuses casino owners and their employees of offering millions to legislators to get them to vote for pro-gambling legislation.
Franklin and Feaga played prominent roles in the original trial this summer, questioning key witnesses and arguing legal issues. Feaga made the government's closing statement in the 10-week trial.
Prosecutors secured guilty pleas from casino operator Ronnie Gilley and two of his lobbyists before the trial, but no convictions in the trial itself. The jury acquitted two defendants and could not reach a unanimous decision involving some of the charges against seven others.
Those seven include casino owner Milton McGregor and state Sen. Harri Anne Smith of Slocomb.
One of Smith's attorneys, William White of Birmingham, said the Justice Department filed court papers notifying the judge and defense lawyers of the change, but he could not comment about the reasons for it because the judge sealed the papers from public view at the request of the Justice Department.
He said changes in the prosecution team won't affect how defense attorneys prepare for the retrial because the legal issues will be the same, but defense attorneys can point out to jurors that the case is being tried by people from Washington.
Defense attorneys did some of that in their statements during the summer trial.
Franklin and Feaga have built a reputation in Montgomery as tough prosecutors. They got bribery convictions against Siegelman and Scrushy in 2006. In 1993, when Feaga was an assistant state attorney general, he was part of the prosecution team that won an ethics conviction against Gov. Guy Hunt and got him removed from office.
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