cwo_ghwebb
02-20-2009, 06:33 AM
The headlines are gone, and MSNBC no longer cares. But that's all the more reason to take note of the strange and disturbing turn in the Ted Stevens legal saga.
Prosecutors claimed this senior Senatorial scalp last year, winning an ethics conviction a fortnight before the octogenarian Republican narrowly lost his bid for a seventh term from Alaska. Though media interest stopped there, the story has since become one of ambitious prosecutors who at the very least botched the job and may have miscarried justice.
Let's unwind from the end. The Justice Department this week took the highly unusual step of replacing the team handling posttrial litigation in the case. This followed last week's bizarre turn, when the chief of the public integrity section at Justice, William Welch, and his deputy, Brenda Morris -- the federal prosecutors who won the Stevens conviction -- were held in contempt of court. Judge Emmet Sullivan berated the prosecutors for failing to act on his January 21 demand to deliver internal documents to Mr. Stevens's attorneys. "That was a court order, that wasn't a request," he said. "Is the Department of Justice taking court orders seriously these days?"Signs of Prosecutorial Misconduct Appear in Ted Stevens Legal Saga - WSJ.com (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123509358392428915.html)
With all the hoopla right before the election this story made headlines briefly and then disappeared.
Are prosecutors this anxious to rid all corrupt politicians of both stripes? If so, they'd better get cracking!
Prosecutors claimed this senior Senatorial scalp last year, winning an ethics conviction a fortnight before the octogenarian Republican narrowly lost his bid for a seventh term from Alaska. Though media interest stopped there, the story has since become one of ambitious prosecutors who at the very least botched the job and may have miscarried justice.
Let's unwind from the end. The Justice Department this week took the highly unusual step of replacing the team handling posttrial litigation in the case. This followed last week's bizarre turn, when the chief of the public integrity section at Justice, William Welch, and his deputy, Brenda Morris -- the federal prosecutors who won the Stevens conviction -- were held in contempt of court. Judge Emmet Sullivan berated the prosecutors for failing to act on his January 21 demand to deliver internal documents to Mr. Stevens's attorneys. "That was a court order, that wasn't a request," he said. "Is the Department of Justice taking court orders seriously these days?"Signs of Prosecutorial Misconduct Appear in Ted Stevens Legal Saga - WSJ.com (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123509358392428915.html)
With all the hoopla right before the election this story made headlines briefly and then disappeared.
Are prosecutors this anxious to rid all corrupt politicians of both stripes? If so, they'd better get cracking!