Six Virginia Attorneys General, four Democrats and two Republicans, are supporting Governor McDonnell’s request that he be allowed out of prison on bond while he is appealing his conviction.[read_more] They are asking the 4th circuit court of appeals to allow them to file a brief in support of McDonnell. Democrats Andrew P. Miller, Anthony F. Troy, Mary Sue Terry and Stephen Rosenthal, and Republicans J. Marshall Coleman and Mark L. Earley said they
“are persuaded that federal law does not criminalize the alleged acts on which those counts are predicated.”
The six attorneys general do not find that McDonnell provided any quid pro quo to Jonnie Williams.
“Indeed all five ‘official actions’ alleged in the indictment appear to us as nothing more than granting or fulfilling access, if such acts can form the basis for Governor McDonnell’s conviction, it will be anyone’s guess as to where the line between lawful and unlawful acts might be drawn.”
“The expansive interpretation of federal law on which his conviction is based is erroneous. It is completely alien to any legal advice that any of us would have given to any governor of Virginia.
“Moreover, that expansive interpretation, if allowed to stand, would wreak havoc upon the public life of Virginia by casting a shadow of federal prosecution and imprisonment across normal participation in the democratic process.”
