Scrushy Denies Role In HealthSouth Fraud

Plaintiff's witnesses depicted Scrushy as a micromanager who was intimately involved in the company's finances, but Scrushy described himself as being more interested in issues like customer care and the company's image as he discussed a program to make sure its clinics were clean.

He was brought to Birmingham from a prison in Beaumont, Texas, where he is serving time for bribery. He was convicted on six counts accusing him of giving $500,000 in contributions in 1999 to then-Gov. Don Siegelman's campaign for a state lottery in exchange for an appointment to a hospital regulatory board.

Siegelman was also convicted on seven bribery and corruption charges. Two have been thrown out on appeal, and attorneys for both men plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review their arguments to overturn the verdict.

While Siegelman has been released on appeal bond, Scrushy is still in federal custody, regarded as a flight risk. He has been held at a jail in nearby Shelby County awaiting his turn as a witness in the civil suit trial.