Cross-examination Of Stevens Begins Again

The corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has entered its final week, with Stevens on the stand being cross-examined by federal prosecutors.

Stevens' attitude is much less combative than last week, which may help Stevens with jurors, although it may be too late after his previous performance on the stand.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent the earlier part of the session squabbling over jury instructions, a critical issue for Judge Emmet Sullivan to decide.

Prosecutor Brenda Morris is now wading into Stevens' involvement with former VECO Corp. CEO Bill Allen on renovating Stevens' home in Girdwood, Alaska. Stevens is accused of accepting more than $250,000 in gifts from Allen and others without disclosing them.

Update - Morris is walking Stevens through a series of e-mails from the summer of 2000, when renovation on the Girdwood home had already begun. Morris is trying to show to jurors that Stevens was personally aware of the details of the renovation, which Stevens' lawyers have said were mainly handled by Catherine Stevens.

Morris also got Stevens to say that knew one of the VECO employees working on his home, including the fact that Stevens knew this person, Rocky Williams, worked for VECO. This is significant because Stevens never paid any money to Allen or VECO for renovation work.

Stevens, however, is asserting that Williams worked for him, not VECO, when he was involved in the renovation project.

"VECO was not involved in the renovation of my house," Stevens said.