High court refuses Siegel case review
From Courier of Montgomery County By Jay R. Jordan |
High court refuses Siegel case review
The state’s highest criminal court denied Montgomery County prosecutors’ asking for additional review in former district court judge candidate Jessica Siegel’s tampering case.
After the 9th Court of Appeals reversed her conviction in late June, the Court of Criminal Appeals denied prosecutors’ petition for discretionary review Thursday.
In their petition, prosecutors claim the 9th COA interpreted the statute “too narrowly” by limiting it to the time Siegel’s pen hit the paper. The lower court ruled that Siegel’s application to be placed on the Republican Party ballot was technically not a governmental record when she filled out the application.
The statute prosecutors claim Siegel violated states a person commits an offense if they “knowingly make a false entry in… a governmental record.” The law defines a governmental record as “anything belonging to, received by, or kept by government for information, including a court record,” or “anything required by law to be kept by others for information of government.”
Montgomery County prosecutors claim when Siegel turned in her application for district judge in 2012, she not only falsified her application but also started a process that illegally landed her name on the Republican Party’s primary ballot.
good for the 9th court of appeals.this case should never have been brought to trial.