Justice Dept. Looks To Drop Stevens Case

(CBS/AP)  The Justice Department is seeking to drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens, whose conviction on corruption charges sparked complaints of prosecutorial misconduct, CBS News confirmed Wednesday.

The 85-year-old Alaska Republican was convicted late last year on seven felony counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from a businessman.

Stevens has appealed his conviction. Problems with the prosecution angered the judge and made it more difficult for the Justice Department to defend the conviction.

"I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed," Stevens said in a statement. "That day has finally come."

Justice officials filed papers Wednesday morning asking the judge to dismiss the indictment. If the judge agrees, Stevens' conviction would be vacated.

The decision was first reported Wednesday by National Public Radio, which said Attorney General Eric Holder decided the conviction could not be defended because of problems with the government's prosecution.

"Because Holder owes little fealty to Bush-era decisions at Justice - indeed, because he has taken strong steps to separate himself from some of the worst policies and practices of his predecessors - the move to dismiss Stevens' convictions is both a political no-brainer and a legal necessity," writes CBS News Chief Legal Analyst and Legal Editor Andrew Cohen. "It was the right thing to do on many different levels." (Read Cohen's full analysis.)

In December, Stevens asked a federal judge to grant him a new trial or throw out the case, saying his trial had many "deficiencies."

In a statement, Williams & Connolly, Stevens' legal representatives, said Holder's decision "is justified by the extraordinary evidence of government corruption" by the prosecution.

"Not only did the government fail to disclose evidence of innocence, but instead intentionally hid that evidence and created false evidence that they provided to the defense," they said.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan held Justice Department lawyers in contempt last month for failing to turn over documents as ordered. He called their behavior "outrageous."

Sullivan had ordered Justice to provide the agency's internal communications regarding a whistle-blower complaint brought by an FBI agent involved in the investigation of Stevens. The agent objected to Justice Department tactics during the trial, including failure to turn over evidence and an "inappropriate relationship" between the lead agent on the case and the prosecution's star witness.

The Justice Department has since assigned a new team of prosecutors to the case.

Officials said they will not seek a new case against Stevens, who lost his reelection bid in November. In his statement, Stevens called it "unfortunate" that the election "was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair."

[lewweinstein]

Prosecutorial misconduct is a plague on our justice system, happening much more frequently than most people believe. It just adds to the travesty that prosecutors who break the law are so rarely prosecuted themselves. I researched this issue and wrote a novel about a young man who finds himself in Sing Sing prison for a murder he did not commit, put there by a NYC prosecutor who knew he was innocent. To learn more about how prosecutors cheat, and to read about and perhaps purchase my book, look up A GOOD CONVICTION by Lewis M. Weinstein on **********.

[alpharettarunner]

I've been reviewing the articles about the case and am stunned by the actions of the prosecutors in the justice department. They had interview notes in which Allen (a convicted criminal and the star witness) gave 80,000 as the cost of repairs, yet testified in the trial that it was 250,000; not one, but two, notes from Stevens asking for bills and scolding Allen for not providing them and in one case for paying a bill. It was an FBI agent involved in the case who filed a whistle blower complaint about the actions of the proscecutors which blew the case apart. The judge repeatedly admonished the prosecutors for misbehavior (I hadn't been aware of that). It looks as if they were willing to do anything to gain a conviction. I am an Alaska resident who did not vote for him because of this conviction. I'm dismayed that a man who was known for integrity (though he had a temper) was put through this. It is important to note that not only are they not getting a new trial, they are setting aside the indictment! That it's done by the democratic appointee says a lot-must not be just politics that are making them set aside the indictment.

[johndevinejr]

Don't take either John. Get a clue, please. These people in power now are bad. Period. It makes no difference if the previous administration was as bad or worse. It's irrelevant John.

People that view our world the way you do are, proof of the failure of our schools.
Posted by BerkeleySkirtLifter at 9:43 AM : Apr 1, 2009


WOW, you are delusional. The republican party and the Bush Administration have taken corruption to new heights.

You pretend not to be aware of it.

You get your thoughts from Fox and Rush and believe anything you are told. Your opinions are their opinions.

Fortunately, the majority of Americans realize that republicans are liars. I hope that you hold on to your beliefs, and continue to spout nonsense,

Then more republicans will be ousted in 2010

[endurorob]

They have to vacate the conviction in order to try him again, otherwise it is double jeopardy.

You must do your taxes on the 1040EZ. It is very easy to run afoul of the IRS, and they are not always right. I'll take a tax evader over a gang of criminals like the Bush Administration any time.
Posted by johndevinejr at 9:21 AM : Apr 1, 2009

By the way if you read the last paragraph of the story you would know that they do not intend to retry him. Just let the criminal go.

[johndevinejr]

Posted by BerkeleySkirtLifter at 9:35 AM : Apr 1, 2009

Well, you are clearly a republican.


As long as we have a Democracy the other problems can be fixed.

[endurorob]

You must do your taxes on the 1040EZ. It is very easy to run afoul of the IRS, and they are not always right. I'll take a tax evader over a gang of criminals like the Bush Administration any time.
Posted by johndevinejr at 9:21 AM : Apr 1, 2009

It's not that easy to run afoul when the IMF gives you money specifically for thetaxes and has you sign documentation stating that you recieved this money and the prupose of it is to pay your payroll taxes (Geithner). That is just flat cheating on your taxes. You need to open your eyes and quit defendign these criminals just because they belong to the same club as you.

[johndevinejr]

You like to point out republican corruption. Great. But BOTH parties are corrupt.

There's no sense...I can't go on...Love is blind and you are are in love with your party and it's members.
Posted by BerkeleySkirtLifter at 9:26 AM : Apr 1, 2009


You miss the entire point. I am aware that all of them are corrupt. I have been around since Eisenhower was President.

The republican party has been working for the last 30 years to change this country into a Right Wing Theocracy. Pushed by the Evangelical Base.

As has been demonstrated by every republican President, the middle class always gets hurt by republicans. And the policy of free market capitalism is just a euphemism for deregulation, which is what caused the economic problems we now face.

Right now republicans are opposing everything that Obama is doing to fix the economy. Even though every economist on the planet recommends we do these things

And they propose NOTHING.

republicans let Bush throw billions down a rathole in Iraq without batting an eye. But when Obama spends money in America, for Americans you oppose it. That seems anti-American to me.

[johndevinejr]

The difference between Democrats and republicans is:

Democrats lie, cheat and steal.

Republican lie, cheat and steal and damage the Democracy

[johndevinejr]

WHAT THE HELLL IS WRONG WITH THE PEOPLE IN ALASKA,

FIRST THIS CLOWN AND NOW PALIN????
Posted by pythoncharly at 9:18 AM : Apr 1, 2009


They are mostly republicans, by definition, clowns

[saturn05]

What a joke!