By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
MONTGOMERY—Former law enforcement officer/turned politico, State Rep. Mike Ball (R-Huntsville) testified last October that a phone call from Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart was proof of prosecutorial misconduct, in the Speaker Mike Hubbard felony case.
Ball was represented during his testimony before Judge Jacob Walker III, by former Attorney General Bill Baxley. Last month on Huntsville radio, Ball claimed not only was Hart guilty of prosecutorial misconduct, but he had also tried to suppress Ball’s political activities. Ball voiced these newly found concerns only after his attorney (Baxley) became Hubbard’s lead counsel in early March. This is not the first time a Baxley client has testified to prosecutorial misconduct, to later be disgraced.
Ball claimed that Hart was trying to suppress his political activities in the same way he was trying to keep Baron Coleman “from coming out.” Coleman once fierce adversary of Hubbard came to his aid by claiming Hart may have broken the law by giving him Grand Jury information illegally.
This was all about a corrupt prosecutor “covering his tracks,” according to Ball.
According to those in law enforcement, Ball shopped his allegations against Hart to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) and two different District Attorneys. All of them turned him down. Reportedly, one DA asked Ball how, as a retired law enforcement officer, did it take him all most two years to realize that Hart had broken the law.
During his radio appearance on March 28, Ball continued to accuse Hart of wrongdoing, an argument that was dealt a fatal blow a day later on March 29, when Judge Walker issued his order denying Hubbard’s motion to dismiss on prosecutorial misconduct.
Judge Walker made it clear that those like Ball, who had given testimony on prosecutorial misconduct, were wrong. He also found that Hart was not leaking grand jury information to Coleman, but rather trying to rein Coleman in.
Ball has dropped his public accusations against Hart, but continues to tell anyone still listening that the charges against Hubbard are trumped up, and that he will not be convicted, according to several State House republicans.
On the Huntsville-based Dale Jackson show, Ball said, when Hubbard was indicted, just two weeks before the Republican primary, he had to go into damage control to protect incumbents he was supporting. Ball claims his attendance at Hubbard’s pep rally, the day after his indictment, was a political rally in support of Hubbard’s candidacy. He told Jackson, he didn’t want to “get into my complaints about Matt Hart because of the political activities.”
ALEA didn’t believe Ball, neither did two district attorneys, and Judge Walker closed the door on the matter once and for all. It is not clear if Baxley still represents Ball.
