By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
MONTGOMERY—There is a very real possibility, that former Deputy Attorney General, Henry T. “Sonny” Reagan, will be indicted, due to his alleged role in trying to hinder the investigation into the crimes of former Speaker of the House, Mike Hubbard. Hubbard has been found guilty of twelve felony counts of public corruption, Reagan has been accused of participating in a scheme to thwart the Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Unit, from ever bringing Hubbard to justice.
December 11, 2014, Attorney General issued a memo concerning Reagan saying, “During his employment with this Office, Mr. Reagan forged relationships with persons, outside the Office of Attorney General, who had an interest in undermining the Lee County Special Grand Jury’s investigation. In October, it was alleged that Mr. Reagan had engaged in misconduct related to the Special Grand Jury, and I removed him from his appointed position as a Deputy Attorney General, pending investigation into those matters.”
General Strange further stated, “In November, after considering all the evidence, including Mr. Reagan’s response, I notified Mr. Reagan that I intended to terminate him from his Merit System position with the Office. On December 2, 2014, I accepted Mr. Reagan’s resignation in lieu of termination.”
It was discovered that Reagan had shared an attorney with Rep. Barry Moore, who was charged with perjury (but later acquitted). Both men, at that time, were answering questions before the Lee County Special Grand Jury. Their attorney was Bill Baxley, who would go on to represent Hubbard at his criminal trial.
According to Strange’s memo, Reagan’s conduct “created an irreconcilable conflict of interests…[his] duties of loyalty and confidentiality to the State of Alabama and to the Office were compromised by his own personal interest in undermining the grand jury’s investigation.”
Reagan also appeared as a witness for Hubbard in pretrial hearings before Judge Jacob Walker III, at which he gave testimony of “alleged prosecutorial misconduct.”
Judge Walker ruled that the State had not committed prosecutorial misconduct as alleged by Hubbard and Reagan. Strange also stated Reagan had shared counsel with Hubbard through Rob Riley, who served with Baxley as Reagan’s attorney.
It is believed Hubbard employed overlapping attorneys to gather information under attorney/client privilege. As this publication reported in April 2015, Hubbard used, “a matrix of overlapping attorneys seems to have allowed a free flow of secret information between Hubbard and individuals who have been named as material witnesses in the Hubbard indictments.” Court documents showed individuals who shared counsel with ties to Hubbard were Will Brooke, Jimmy Rane, Bob Riley and Minda Riley Campbell. Four of the seven individuals named in the Hubbard indictments shared attorneys.
According to court filings, when Brooke appeared before the Lee County Grand Jury he was accompanied by his attorney, “Mark White – the same attorney representing Hubbard. Similarly, Jim Pratt, another attorney representing Hubbard, accompanied Jimmy Rane during his appearance before the Grand Jury. Also, Hubbard’s attorney, Rob Riley, represents both Bob Riley and Minda Riley Campbell, and accompanied both of them to grand jury.”
In September 2014, the Alabama Political Reporter revealed that Reagan unsuccessfully tried to quash his subpoena to testify before the Lee County Grand Jury.
Reagan and others may be facing indictments as this sordid tale of the State v. Michael G. Hubbard continues to play out.
