Attorney General: Mike Hubbard’s Appeals Are Exhausted and He Must Report for Prison
Attorney General Steve Marshall has issued a statement, saying that it is time that former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard begin serving his punishment for his ethics convictions.
This morning, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a Certificate of Judgment, denying Hubbard’s request for a rehearing of his case.
“The long road to justice is finally nearing its end for former Speaker Mike Hubbard,” Marshall said in his statement. “Today, the Alabama Supreme Court effectively reaffirmed its April 10 ruling upholding six counts of Mr. Hubbard’s conviction of violating Alabama’s ethics law. The court denied Mr. Hubbard’s application for rehearing and issued a certificate of judgment requiring the former speaker to report to begin serving his prison sentence.
Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard
“According to Alabama criminal statutes, Mr. Hubbard’s State appeals now have been exhausted and all that remains is for him to report to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to be processed and turned over to the Alabama Department of Corrections. Mr. Hubbard can no longer avoid being held accountable for his flagrant violations of Alabama’s ethics law.
“As we’ve previously stated, this case was not just a trial of former Speaker Hubbard’s misconduct, but also a test of our ethics law. Hubbard campaigned in 2010 on the message that Alabama ‘sorely needed’ a stronger ethics law. Our ethics laws must be strengthened and protected in order to prevent a repeat of such cavalier violations in the future.”
A jury in Lee County had convicted Hubbard of 12 ethics charges in 2016. He had faced 23 counts.
Even though Hubbard was sentenced to four years in prison, he has remained free while appealing his case. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals later overturned one of the convictions.
In April, the Alabama Supreme Court reversed five of the remaining convictions against Hubbard, while upholding six others.
Hubbard, who was first elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1998, was once one of the most powerful leaders in Alabama politics. As head of the Alabama Republican Party, he was credited for helping to switch the Alabama Legislature from majority-Democratic to majority-Republican in 2010.
When he was convicted in 2016, he was automatically removed from office.
Hubbard was convicted of using his political positions as speaker and state Republican Party chairman to make money and solicit jobs and financial favors from lobbyists.
Hubbard has continued to maintain his innocence, saying the transactions fell within exemptions for normal business dealings and longtime friendships.
