Prosecutors from the Alabama Attorney General's special prosecution division - who just prosecuted and convicted former House Speaker Mike Hubbard - have opened a grand jury in Montgomery and have questioned a number of people surrounding Gov. Robert Bentley.

Ray Lewis, the former head of Bentley's security detail, testified Monday and Tuesday in a Montgomery County grand jury, sources say. The Alabama Political Reporter reported today that Bentley himself testified to the grand jury Wednesday, along with Hal Taylor, the former chief of staff to former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Secretary Spencer Collier.

Court records show prosecutors asked Montgomery County courts in May to empanel the special grand jury, claiming the case will require investigation and time beyond that typically available in a regular grand jury. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Gene Reese ordered the panel to convene beginning Monday.

APR Reported that Stan Stabler, Collier's replacement at ALEA, also appeared before the grand jury, as did former Collier staffer J.T. Jenkins.

Those identified as testifying were all intimately involved in the events leading to revelations by Collier that Bentley long had an improper relationship with his former political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason.

Collier said in March that Lewis and Stabler made him aware of "improper" and sexually explicit cell phone messages between the governor and Mason. Collier said he confronted the governor about those messages, but the governor refused to break off the relationship.

The situation came to a head after confrontational meetings in February relating to the Hubbard investigation and involving Collier, Bentley, Mason, Bentley's lawyers, Taylor and others.

Matt Hart, the lead prosecutor in the Hubbard case and head of the Special Prosecutions Division, had sought sworn statements from ALEA to contradict defense claims in the Hubbard case. Collier and others signed apparently truthful affidavits, saying they were standard in law enforcement.

Bentley, however, had ordered Collier not to sign any affidavit in the case. He placed Collier on medical leave, replacing him with Stabler.

Collier was fired after revealing the relationship between Bentley and Mason.

State Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, said in a statement Thursday that the new grand jury investigation shows that the Alabama House was right to begin impeachment proceedings earlier this year.

"I filed articles of impeachment against Gov. Bentley in April because it was apparent even then that dishonesty, deception, and corruption were running rampant behind the locked doors of his office, so I am gratified to learn that a grand jury is conducting a criminal probe into his actions and those of his closest aides," Henry said.

AG Request for Special GJ by John Archibald on Scribd

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