Supreme Court Remands Scrushy's Conviction in Light of Skilling

The Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Richard Scrushy, former Chairman of HealthSouth Corp., for bribery and conspiracy and remanded to the appellate court for further consideration in light of its Skilling opinion that narrowed the scope of the honest services fraud statute.  Scrushy, along with former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, was convicted in 2006 based on allegations that Scrushy gave $500,000 in contributions to a state lottery campaign in exchange for a seat on the state health-care board.  It is not clear, however, that the remand will result in any change in the disposition, since, unlikely Skilling's case, the convictions here were based on bribery and kickbacks, which the Supreme Court held to be the core criminal conduct under the statute.