July 1, 2006

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Scrushy Will Appeal
Corruption Conviction

HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard M. Scrushy vowed to fight his conviction on political-corruption charges with "everything we've got" and he said it was a mistake to limit his defense during the two-month trial to less than two days.

In an interview, Mr. Scrushy said his lawyers probably should have called 10 to 15 witnesses over about a two-week period to help undercut the federal government's allegations that he bribed former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to get a spot on a state panel that regulates hospitals. "We didn't put them up" because the prosecution's case seemed unconvincing, Mr. Scrushy said. "We didn't feel we needed to."

Mr. Scrushy said he will appeal his conviction Thursday by a jury in Montgomery, Ala., on five or six different legal grounds. Before the trial, his lawyers contended that the jury pool included too few African-Americans and that Mr. Scrushy should be tried separately from three other defendants in the case. Mr. Scrushy said Friday that those issues could be part of his appeal.

The 53-year-old Mr. Scrushy plans to take a one-week vacation and then return to his home outside Birmingham, Ala., to work on his appeal. He had hoped to travel to Africa this fall with a religious ministry he recently launched, but the guilty verdict has forced those plans to be put on hold.

Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com¹