OPELIKA, Ala. -- Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard's conviction on ethics charges automatically removes him from office.
On Friday night, a jury found the Republican guilty of 12 counts of public corruption for using the influence and prestige of his political stature to benefit his companies and clients. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each count.
The jury, which reached the verdict after nearly seven hours of deliberation, acquitted Hubbard of 11 other counts.
"We hope this verdict tonight restores some of the confidence in the people of the state of Alabama that public officials at all levels in the state of Alabama will be held accountable for their actions, especially those that would betray the public trust," said W. Van Davis, the acting attorney general in the case.
Hubbard, 54, spoke briefly with his attorneys before being escorted from the courtroom and to the Lee County jail a couple of miles from Mike Hubbard Boulevard, the half-mile road named for him. He was released on $160,000 bail and driven away by a bail bondsman.
"We're very disappointed with the verdict. We plan on appealing," defense lawyer David McKnight said. "I feel like I let my client down. We feel confident we will prevail in the outcome."
Hubbard was convicted under an ethics law he once championed.
He led Republicans' 2010 offensive to win control of the Alabama Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. The campaign focused on ending corruption in Montgomery after a series of indictments and investigations involving Democrats. After the victory, Hubbard was elected speaker, and the new GOP-controlled Legislature approved revisions to the state's ethics law in a special session called by the governor.
The jury convicted Hubbard on charges that he used his office to solicit consulting contracts from several companies and then took action to benefit them. The panel also convicted Hubbard on charges that he asked four corporate executives to make $150,000 investments in his printing companies.
Jurors acquitted him of using his former position as party chairman to steer business to his companies. They also acquitted Hubbard on a charge that he solicited former Gov. Bob Riley -- a man Hubbard described as a father figure -- for employment.
"This man right here loved power. I think you could sense that through his testimony. It was all about power, and it was all about greed," Davis told jurors. "It was never enough for Mike Hubbard."
But defense lawyer Bill Baxley, a former Democratic attorney general in Alabama, told jurors that the charges filed by the attorney general's office against Hubbard were "flimsy" and "absurd."
"What you heard from that witness stand is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Mike Hubbard did anything," Baxley said.
A Section on 06/12/2016