Sorry...I’m a strong supporter of Sarah’s but I think she is wrong here. Steven’s is guilty. Charges were dismissed ‘cause of prosecution misconduct but Stevens still did the crime. Let him go gently into the night and don’t get any of his mud on you.
So it is not true as posted above that Stevens had written the contractor to make sure all charges were included and the prosecutor hid the letter?
I am astonished that someone would say such a thing about a case where the govt allowed its witnesses to perjure themselves, whisked off a witness who would have cleared Stevens, hid evidence establishing his innocence. The more I see people purporting to be conservatives run away from any Republican charged with wrongdoing without regard to the facts, the more I realize what rotten allies Republican pols have when they are unfairly attacked.
Seriously.
I am not asking that you stand blindly by. Only that without heaping on or running you learn what the facts are.]
You have not.
[quote]Not only did these prosecutors seek and issue indictments just a few short months before Election Day, not only did they engage in the strategic leaking of what amounted to no more than innuendo and outright libel/slander against the Senator to friendly reporters, not only did they hold the trial before a DC jury (which may not be their doing) as the Presidential campaign got into high gear, they also “forgot” to share documents with the defense, prevented exculpatory witness testimony from being heard in open court, and when it came to the documents they did share with the defense they actually redacted exculpatory passages from witness transcripts.
To give you all an example of what somehow never made it to Stevens’ defense team; after the renovation work done on his house, Stevens wrote to Bill Allen, CEO of VECO and the prosecution’s star witness, asking him to talk to Stevens’ neighbor (who had overseen the renovation on Stevens’ behalf) about the bill or invoice for the work for Stevens to pay back. As Stevens wrote; “You owe me a bill … Remember Torricelli, my friend. Friendship is one thing, compliance with the ethics rules entirely different.”
Now according to Bill Allen sitting in the witness box, Bob Persons (the neighbor) told him when he went to talk to him about the bill; “Don’t worry about getting a bill, Ted’s just covering his ass.”
Which sounds condemning until you find out that Bill Allen had told prosecutors some months earlier (when his memory should have been a bit fresher) that he could not recall ever meeting Bob Persons about providing a bill to Ted Stevens. Add in the fact that it’s not in dispute that Stevens paid every bill that was presented to him - over $180,000 out of his own pocket. This and more potentially exculpatory information were in the interview notes that the prosecution somehow “forgot” to provide to the defense.
So it is no surprise that the trial judge found the prosecution team in contempt in February for their continued failure to provide these documents unredacted, undoctored, to the defense for the sentencing phase. The DOJ had to assign another DOJ lawyer to review their case files and send the documents to the defense. These would be including those documents relating to complaints by the FBI agent in charge of the investigation about prosecutors covering up evidence unhelpful to their case and trying to prevent a witness from testifying because his/her testimony would have harmed their case.
Ted Stevens may have been a pork-addicted fiend. He may have made a mockery of fiscal restraint as a principle of Republican politics, and he has rightly been pilloried for it over the years. But it’s obvious he was no crook if prosecutors had to go to such dishonest lengths to get him convicted - and by a DC jury during a Presidential campaign with partisan passions running high.
Now, maybe I’m going dangerously close to conspiracy theory territory here, but looking at everything, the timing of the indictment and trial (finishing about a week to election day), the leaks, the trial venue (almost guaranteed to return a conviction), the deliberate withholding/doctoring of evidence by the prosecution, the fact that the lead prosecutor is a registered Democrat with ambitions of being appointed the US Attorney for Boston … and I’m starting to think this was more of a political operation than anything to do with justice.
That’s one.
The second thing is that I have to note that Achance, again, was right. Republicans, in a bid to appear as white as the driven snow, have been tricked, again and again, into committing fratricide. For all that Obama can give the world lessons in throwing people under the bus once they become inconvenient, Republicans are hardly slouches. All it takes is an accusation, a news headline and the entire concept of “innocent until proven guilty” is thrown out the window in a rush to condemn and disassociate (as if the MSM would ever forget to attach the big scarlet ‘R’).
Nothing p*ssed me off more than seeing Democrats and their pet talking heads condemning Republicans for attempting to change their Caucus rules to enable Tom DeLay (another victim of prosecutorial misconduct - whatever happened to his trial anyway?) stay on as Leader while he fought his indictment by a clearly dishonest and partisan Ronnie Earle. And there were Republicans who got on TV and print to echo them -e.g. Chris Shays. This while Democrats have no such rule in place for their leadership.
Simply put; we need to start defending our own. I’m not saying we should emulate the Democrats who had no problem with criminals like William Jefferson and Chris Dodd serving in their midst, but the fact that someone is on our side means we should give him/her the benefit of the doubt, extend them the courtesy of believing them innocent until proven guilty.
We condemned Stevens from the moment he was indicted, we believed the leaks, we joined the Democrats in labelling him corrupt - a quid pro quo player.
And we were wrong. He was one of our own. He deserved better.[/quote]
http://www.redstate.com/martin_a_knight/2009/04/01/fratricide-and-ted-stevens/
Biy—it is so easy to get republicans to abandon their own on the field of battle!!