Attorneys for former Alabama Speaker of the House Michael G. “Mike” Hubbard on Friday filed a motion for resentencing.
This comes seven days after Hubbard reported to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to begin serving what is currently a four-year prison sentence. He is being held in Russell County and will eventually be turned over to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Hubbard in 2016 was convicted on 12 of 23 ethics charges brought against him by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.
One of those 12 convictions was reversed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in August 2018. An additional five convictions were tossed by the Supreme Court of Alabama earlier this year.
Although half of the original convictions have been tossed to-date, Hubbard still faces four years in prison, which was the original length of imprisonment imposed by the trial judge. Of the original charges brought against him, only 26% have stuck.
The new motion by Hubbard’s attorneys argues, “Give these changed circumstances and in the interest of justice, Hubbard respectfully requests that this Court resentence him…The convictions in this case alone have resulted in a wide range of punishments which include his removal from office, the loss of his right to vote, the divestment of his business interests, and his current incarceration.”
The motion further noted that Hubbard is not a danger to society. Hubbard’s counsel pointed to sentencing guidelines which state that “the sentence imposed in each case should call for the least restrictive sanction that is consistent with the protection of the public and the gravity of the crime.”
“Judges should be sensitive to the impact their sentences have on all components of the criminal justice system and should consider alternatives to long-term institutional confinement or incarceration in cases involving offenders whom the court deems to pose no serious danger to society,” counsel wrote.
“In short, from arrest to reentry into the community, a web of sanctions haunts defendants and their families,” the motion added. “An arrest and criminal charges alone can have a devastating impact. These hidden sanctions can have a more severe impact on the arrested or convicted, their children and their families than the immediate sentence.”
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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