April 2, 2009
U.S. to Drop Case Against Ex-Senator From Alaska
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department moved on Wednesday to drop all charges against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, who lost his seat last year just days after being convicted on seven felony counts of ethics violations.
The case was one of the most high profile and bitterly fought in a string of corruption investigations into current and former members of Congress. But Justice Department lawyers told a federal court Wednesday that they had discovered a new instance of prosecutorial misconduct, on top of earlier disclosures that had raised questions about the way the case was handled, and asked that the convictions be voided.
The attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., said he would not seek a new trial.
Mr. Stevens, 85, was the longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate and Alaska’s dominant political figure for more than four decades. His career mirrored the state’s rough-and-tumble journey from a remote territory to an economic powerhouse as he used his influence to send billions of dollars in federal aid to Alaska.
The collapse of the Stevens case was a profound embarrassment for the Justice Department, and it raised troubling issues about the integrity of the actions of prosecutors who wield enormous power over people they investigate. Mr. Stevens’s case was handled by senior officials of the department’s Public Integrity Section, which handles official corruption cases.
Mr. Holder, himself a former prosecutor and judge, noted that the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility was conducting a review of the prosecutors’ conduct, raising the possibility that some of those who tried Mr. Stevens on ethics charges could themselves now face ethics charges.
The application to throw out the conviction of Mr. Stevens will almost certainly be ratified by the court at a hearing scheduled for next Tuesday. But it will do nothing to undo the loss of his Senate seat. Within days of the verdict, Mr. Stevens lost his re-election bid by fewer than 4,000 votes, less than 2 percent of votes cast.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said that without the guilty verdict, Mr. Stevens would have been re-elected, giving the 41 Republicans an additional vote and voice in the Senate.
If the charges had been thrown out before the election, Mr. McConnell said in an interview, “Ted Stevens would still be in the Senate.”
“It literally cost us a seat,” he said.
Mr. Stevens said in a statement: “I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed. That day has finally come. It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair.”
Mr. Stevens was charged in July with lying on Senate disclosure forms by concealing an estimated $250,000 worth of goods and services he received, mostly to renovate a chalet he owned in Alaska. Prosecutors said he had received the bulk of the goods and services from Bill Allen, a longtime friend who had made a fortune by providing services to Alaska’s booming oil industry.
But in their filing on Wednesday, government lawyers said they had recently learned that trial prosecutors had concealed from Mr. Stevens’s defense lawyers the notes from a 2008 interview with Mr. Allen that raised significant doubts about the charges. Among other things, Mr. Allen asserted in the interview that the work on the Stevens home was worth only about $80,000, they said.
Mr. Stevens’s lawyers argued during the trial that the senator had been unaware of the help he received from Mr. Allen and had not intentionally concealed anything. Mr. Allen, the prosecution’s chief witness, provided forceful testimony intended to demonstrate that Mr. Stevens had been fully aware of what he received and had even signaled that he wanted it concealed.
Mr. Holder said in a statement that “I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial.”
Mr. Stevens’s lawyers, Brendan Sullivan and Robert Cary, welcomed the decision in a statement and praised Mr. Holder as “a pillar of integrity.” They said the case was a warning to everyone that “any citizen can be convicted if prosecutors are hellbent on ignoring the Constitution.”
Senator Mark Begich, the Democrat who defeated Mr. Stevens in November, issued a statement calling the Justice Department’s decision “reasonable.”
Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah Republican and longtime friend of Mr. Stevens, told reporters: “Here’s a guy who gave better than 60 years’ service to our country and was screwed. Screwed by our own Justice Department.”
Mr. Hatch praised Mr. Holder for “standing up and fixing this foul situation.”
Mr. Stevens had faced an almost-certain prison term on the conviction. But Judge Emmet G. Sullivan had delayed imposing a sentence because he was considering motions by Mr. Stevens’s lawyers to throw out the conviction based on previous disclosures of prosecutorial misconduct. The judge repeatedly scolded prosecutors during the trial over a series of incidents in which they concealed information from defense lawyers.
Judge Sullivan recently ordered that some of the government lawyers involved be held in contempt of court, including the two top officials of the Public Integrity Section.
Judge Sullivan displayed his annoyance with the prosecutors’ conduct for the first time almost four weeks before Mr. Stevens was convicted. On Oct. 3, the judge almost declared a mistrial after discovering that prosecutors had not told the defense team about a different interview with Mr. Allen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“How does the court have confidence that the Public Integrity Section has public integrity?” Judge Sullivan asked that day.
The chief prosecutor, Brenda Morris, apologized for her team’s mistakes. But she also called the errors careless, not purposeful.
But last month, an F.B.I. agent who had worked on the investigation disputed that characterization of events, accusing prosecutors and a fellow agent of willfully concealing evidence from Mr. Stevens’s lawyers.
The agent, Chad Joy, wrote in the complaint that he had “witnessed or learned of serious violations of policy, rules and procedures as well as possible criminal violations.”
Judge Sullivan ruled that Ms. Morris and two other prosecutors — William Welch and Patty Stemler — were in contempt of court after the Justice Department failed to produce documents the judge had requested to assess Mr. Joy’s complaint.
U.S. to Drop Case Against Ex-Senator From Alaska
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department moved on Wednesday to drop all charges against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, who lost his seat last year just days after being convicted on seven felony counts of ethics violations.
The case was one of the most high profile and bitterly fought in a string of corruption investigations into current and former members of Congress. But Justice Department lawyers told a federal court Wednesday that they had discovered a new instance of prosecutorial misconduct, on top of earlier disclosures that had raised questions about the way the case was handled, and asked that the convictions be voided.
The attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., said he would not seek a new trial.
Mr. Stevens, 85, was the longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate and Alaska’s dominant political figure for more than four decades. His career mirrored the state’s rough-and-tumble journey from a remote territory to an economic powerhouse as he used his influence to send billions of dollars in federal aid to Alaska.
The collapse of the Stevens case was a profound embarrassment for the Justice Department, and it raised troubling issues about the integrity of the actions of prosecutors who wield enormous power over people they investigate. Mr. Stevens’s case was handled by senior officials of the department’s Public Integrity Section, which handles official corruption cases.
Mr. Holder, himself a former prosecutor and judge, noted that the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility was conducting a review of the prosecutors’ conduct, raising the possibility that some of those who tried Mr. Stevens on ethics charges could themselves now face ethics charges.
The application to throw out the conviction of Mr. Stevens will almost certainly be ratified by the court at a hearing scheduled for next Tuesday. But it will do nothing to undo the loss of his Senate seat. Within days of the verdict, Mr. Stevens lost his re-election bid by fewer than 4,000 votes, less than 2 percent of votes cast.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said that without the guilty verdict, Mr. Stevens would have been re-elected, giving the 41 Republicans an additional vote and voice in the Senate.
If the charges had been thrown out before the election, Mr. McConnell said in an interview, “Ted Stevens would still be in the Senate.”
“It literally cost us a seat,” he said.
Mr. Stevens said in a statement: “I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed. That day has finally come. It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair.”
Mr. Stevens was charged in July with lying on Senate disclosure forms by concealing an estimated $250,000 worth of goods and services he received, mostly to renovate a chalet he owned in Alaska. Prosecutors said he had received the bulk of the goods and services from Bill Allen, a longtime friend who had made a fortune by providing services to Alaska’s booming oil industry.
But in their filing on Wednesday, government lawyers said they had recently learned that trial prosecutors had concealed from Mr. Stevens’s defense lawyers the notes from a 2008 interview with Mr. Allen that raised significant doubts about the charges. Among other things, Mr. Allen asserted in the interview that the work on the Stevens home was worth only about $80,000, they said.
Mr. Stevens’s lawyers argued during the trial that the senator had been unaware of the help he received from Mr. Allen and had not intentionally concealed anything. Mr. Allen, the prosecution’s chief witness, provided forceful testimony intended to demonstrate that Mr. Stevens had been fully aware of what he received and had even signaled that he wanted it concealed.
Mr. Holder said in a statement that “I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial.”
Mr. Stevens’s lawyers, Brendan Sullivan and Robert Cary, welcomed the decision in a statement and praised Mr. Holder as “a pillar of integrity.” They said the case was a warning to everyone that “any citizen can be convicted if prosecutors are hellbent on ignoring the Constitution.”
Senator Mark Begich, the Democrat who defeated Mr. Stevens in November, issued a statement calling the Justice Department’s decision “reasonable.”
Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah Republican and longtime friend of Mr. Stevens, told reporters: “Here’s a guy who gave better than 60 years’ service to our country and was screwed. Screwed by our own Justice Department.”
Mr. Hatch praised Mr. Holder for “standing up and fixing this foul situation.”
Mr. Stevens had faced an almost-certain prison term on the conviction. But Judge Emmet G. Sullivan had delayed imposing a sentence because he was considering motions by Mr. Stevens’s lawyers to throw out the conviction based on previous disclosures of prosecutorial misconduct. The judge repeatedly scolded prosecutors during the trial over a series of incidents in which they concealed information from defense lawyers.
Judge Sullivan recently ordered that some of the government lawyers involved be held in contempt of court, including the two top officials of the Public Integrity Section.
Judge Sullivan displayed his annoyance with the prosecutors’ conduct for the first time almost four weeks before Mr. Stevens was convicted. On Oct. 3, the judge almost declared a mistrial after discovering that prosecutors had not told the defense team about a different interview with Mr. Allen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“How does the court have confidence that the Public Integrity Section has public integrity?” Judge Sullivan asked that day.
The chief prosecutor, Brenda Morris, apologized for her team’s mistakes. But she also called the errors careless, not purposeful.
But last month, an F.B.I. agent who had worked on the investigation disputed that characterization of events, accusing prosecutors and a fellow agent of willfully concealing evidence from Mr. Stevens’s lawyers.
The agent, Chad Joy, wrote in the complaint that he had “witnessed or learned of serious violations of policy, rules and procedures as well as possible criminal violations.”
Judge Sullivan ruled that Ms. Morris and two other prosecutors — William Welch and Patty Stemler — were in contempt of court after the Justice Department failed to produce documents the judge had requested to assess Mr. Joy’s complaint.
