Rob Riley
Testimony in Week One of the Mike Hubbard trial suggests someone tampered with a witness. The No. 1 suspect is Birmingham attorney Rob Riley, son of former GOP governor Bob Riley, according to a report yesterday from Bill Britt, publisher of Alabama Political Reporter (APR).The issue surfaced last Thursday with the testimony of Dr. Don Williamson, former state health officer and now president of the Alabama Hospital Association. A series of witnesses had made it clear that Hubbard, speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, was directly involved with placing language into the General Fund Budget that would give his client, American Pharmacy Cooperative Inc. (APCI), a monopoly on the state's lucrative Medicaid prescriptions.
In pre-trial interviews with prosecutors, Williamson apparently agreed with other witnesses that Hubbard played a central role in having the APCI language placed in the budget. But on the stand last week, Williamson said others had placed the language in the budget, and Hubbard played a key role in removing it.
The statement so shocked prosecutor Matt Hart that he turned quickly on his heels and asked Williamson, "Have you been threatened?" Sources told Britt that they knew Williamson's altered testimony was coming:
By all indications from the prosecution, Williamson’s testimony had significantly changed from what he had previously told them. Reliable sources say they learned Williamson’s testimony had been compromised. The two sources, who asked to remain anonymous, have informed APR that they knew Williamson was going to “walk back” his testimony 24 hours before he took the stand.
Who would pull such a stunt, the kind that tramples any notion of fairness in our justice system? Britt was quick to point a finger at Rob Riley, calling the trial "covert warfare between Justice and Riley Inc., with consigliere Rob Riley as mastermind of the behind-the-scenes, mob-style tactics."
Britt, in so many words, accuses Rob Riley and his associates of engaging in organized crime. I've been raising that point for quite some time, particularly since Riley used a bogus defamation lawsuit to have law enforcement kidnap me and throw me in jail for five months, with clear evidence that the mafia-style plans included kidnapping my wife, Carol, too. We strongly suspect that if Carol had been abducted and thrown in jail, too, we both likely would have been killed, along with our pets.
Is it any wonder Matt Hart asked if Dr. Don Williamson had been threatened. And God only knows the nature of any threats directed at Williamson. Why does Britt view Riley as "Public Animal No. 9" (to borrow a phrase from Alice Cooper, one that certainly seems to fit Rob Riley)? Here is more from yesterday's article at APR:
Rob, the son of former Gov. Bob Riley, is believed to have directed Hubbard’s defense from the outset. It is also believed it was Rob who chose J. Mark White for the public relations phase of the defense, and Rob who schemed out the interlocking legal strategy that would lead to Baxley. It is Rob who has twisted arms to raise money for Hubbard’s defense, according to several sources, and it is Rob who is thought to be behind witnesses “softening” their testimony, and in some cases, change it, as did Williamson.
Britt goes on to describe Riley as a man "whose world view is colored by the privilege of power, situational ethics and a family dynamic that demands loyalty, even to crooks like Hubbard." Britt is being much too kind here, in my view. I don't think Riley has any ethics, situational or otherwise. Having seen Riley a time or two in person, I could not help notice that he has a distinct reptilian quality. He is pure molten evil, a man so warped by his family dynamic that I don't think there is any chance of him ever being reformed.
Rob Riley's debased nature apparently rubs off on those around him. Writes Britt:
Rob sat in court the first two days of the trial taking notes and consulting Baxley during breaks in the proceedings. He was accompanied by his younger associate, Jeremiah Mosley, a tall, thin, boy-man with an overly aggressive handshake and a need to impress.
After Williamson shocked the prosecution with his altered testimony, Mosley asked this reporter, “How did you like that?” With this, Mosley broke an unwritten law in cheating: “Never gloat.” But like any amateur, with an oversized opinion of his own self-worth, the baby-faced Mosley couldn’t resist the need to have someone recognize his brilliance.
Mosley's law-firm bio states that he and his wife, and two daughters, are active members of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Cahaba Heights. That appears to be a common Riley Inc. strategy, engaging in church activities to appear righteous while applying underhanded legal and political tactics that should make any genuine Christian wretch. Rob Riley reportedly was a deacon at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Homewood.
Jeremiah Mosley
Mosley, by the way, was involved in the case where I essentially was kidnapped--becoming the first U.S. journalist to be incarcerated since 2006, and apparently the only one in U.S. history to be jailed because of a preliminary injunction that has been prohibited in defamation cases under First Amendment law for more than 200 years.One could conclude that Rob Riley is among the sleaziest attorneys ever to practice in the United States. He thought of a way to cheat an opposing party that no other U.S. lawyer ever had come up with. Now, that is some kind of achievement!
Lesson: Never underestimate how far Rob Riley might go to achieve his objectives, no matter how warped they might be.
Is witness tampering likely to be a "one off" at the Hubbard trial, involving Dr. Don Williamson, but no other witnesses. Doesn't look like it. Writes Britt:
Rumors abound that Riley Inc. has convinced others to “soften” or alter their testimony. Ferrell Patrick, lobbyist for American Pharmacy Cooperative Inc. (APCI), has been mentioned as one of the witness who may flip, as is former Rep. Greg Wren. According to those close to the Rileys, the plan is to blame Wren for placing the 23 words in the Medicaid portion of the General Fund Budget that would have given Hubbard’s client, APCI, a monopoly over the multi-million Medicaid pharmacy program. . . .
Patrick and Wren are the State’s star witnesses regarding Hubbard’s involvement in placing language in the budget to give his paying client a monopoly over the Medicaid pharmacy program.
Most court observers believe that Hubbard’s role in the pharmacy monopoly scheme was perhaps the easiest to prove and the most damning. Those close to the Rileys say Rob believes if he can kill this charge, then the others will be much easier to defeat. Perhaps this is why Mosley couldn’t help taking credit for punking the jury.