Stevens Conviction Dismissed

[cwo_ghwebb]

A special prosecutor will investigate whether government attorneys broke the law by failing to ensure former Sen. Ted Stevens received a fair trial, a federal judge announced Tuesday as he dismissed corruption charges and a jury's guilty verdict against the Alaska Republican. "In 25 years on the bench, I've never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I've seen in this case," U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said. "When the government does not meet its obligation to turn over evidence, the system falters."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had asked Sullivan last week to dismiss the verdict and the indictment after acknowledging that prosecutors had failed to share with Stevens' attorneys notes from an interview with the prosecution's key witness that contradicted the witness's trial testimony.

Withholding materials that could be helpful to criminal defendants has become a troubling Justice Department trend, Sullivan said, citing Stevens' case and that of a Guantanamo detainee who fought to have his medical records released to his lawyers.

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the Stevens prosecution team for its handling of evidence during the trial as well as how it handled a post-trial whistleblower complaint from an FBI agent. Sullivan said, however, that he wouldn't be satisfied with an internal investigation that the Justice Department is unlikely to make public.

Sullivan has asked a former military judge, Henry Schuelke III of Washington, D.C., to investigate the conduct of six prosecutors in the case for potential criminal contempt and obstruction of justice.

They are: the head of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, William Welch; the lead trial attorney, Brenda Morris; two trial attorneys in the Public Integrity Section, Nicholas Marsh and Edward Sullivan; and two assistant U.S. attorneys in Alaska, Joseph Bottini and James Goeke.

"I have not pre-judged these attorneys for their culpability, and I hope the record will find no intentional obstruction of justice," Sullivan said.

Stevens conviction dismissed; judge orders prosecutioninvestigation: Former Sen. Ted Stevens | adn.com

Some heads should roll.

[Lenny]

What I find quite mystifying is the liberal mainstream press taking the comments of a single juror from the trial and saying Stevens would have been convicted even without the testimony of the contractor. This single woman doesn't realize that the prosecution would probably not have gone forward without the contractor's manufactured testimony since the purported haul would have been close to $25,000 rather that hundreds of thousands. If the federal prosecutors didn't have a swindle of over $100,000 they probably would have said "Nevermind."

[cwo_ghwebb]

I haven't watched news yet today as someone has to earn that wealth Obama wants to spread around. Is this story elsewhere or just in Alaskan news?

[Lenny]

Originally Posted by cwo_ghwebb

I haven't watched news yet today as someone has to earn that wealth Obama wants to spread around. Is this story elsewhere or just in Alaskan news?

It was national news for about 30 minutes before MSM decided the wallpaper in the White House third floor bathroom was more interesting to inquiring minds.