A jury convicted one of Alabama’s most powerful politicians on corruption charges, bringing closure to one of three political scandals rocking the state.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard, 54, was convicted Friday on 12 of 23 felony ethic charges, which according to acting Attorney General W. Van Davis were “all about greed.”
Davis called the verdict vindication for the prosecution that Hubbard and his lawyers had painted as political opportunism.
“It’s been very trying — it was a bad experience,” Davis said. “We feel good due the fact that this jury made a statement.”
He declined to comment on whether there would be future charges brought against other alleged actors in the Hubbard case.
Davis called the case “complicated to explain the 11 not-guilty counts.
Hubbard was convicted of using his position as speaker of the House to solicit money or business from various people or companies, including a total of $600,000 from four individuals, as well as voting on a bill where he knew he had a conflict of interest, according to CNN-affiliate WSFA .
Hubbard’s defense argued that his actions were allowed under the state ethics law.
Ironically, Davis has said most of those charges “involve violations of the ethics reforms (Hubbard) championed in 2010,” the year Republicans took over the House.
That was the year Hubbard was elected speaker, but also the year he was laid off from his job at sports marketing behemoth IMG, which has an office in Auburn.
In court filings, prosecutors paint a picture of a desperate, down-on-his-luck man who used “the mantle of office” to embezzle over $1 million to Hubbard’s printing and media businesses.
Because Hubbard was convicted of a felony, state law requires he automatically be removed from office.
He was indicted in October 2014. After a lengthy legal battle by the defense to have the case dismissed, the trial finally began with jury selection on May 16. and the first day of testimony on May 24.
Hubbard will be sentenced July 8. He faces a maximum penalty of two to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $30,000 for each count, WSFA reported. Defense lawyers said they will appeal the verdicts.
All branches of government rocked by leaders’ scandal
Gov. Robert Bentley is facing allegations he had an affair with a former staffer and used public funds to facilitate and hide it. Bentley has denied wrongdoing and says he won’t resign.
His wife of 50 years left him in 2015.
And Chief Justice Roy Moore, head of the Alabama Supreme Court, has been suspended on charges he violated judicial ethics in ordering probate judges to ignore the federal ruling allowing same-sex marriages
The chief justice made national headlines in 2003 when he defied a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from a public judicial building on the grounds that it was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
His defiance cost him his job. But nearly a decade after being booted by the state’s judicial commission, Moore recaptured the top judicial post in a statewide election in 2012.