Posted on 04/01/2009 8:30:47 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative
Last fall, the senior Senator from Alaska was the poster octogenarian for political corruption. As of yesterday, Ted Stevens is merely another casualty of abusive prosecutors out to make a name for themselves.
The Justice Department yesterday moved to set aside an October conviction on ethics charges and forgo any future trials for Senator Stevens. He walks free, in other words, an innocent man. In the motion, Justice said it "recently discovered" that prosecutors withheld from the defense notes about an interview last April with the state's star witness, Bill Allen, that contradicted his subsequent testimony. Under the Brady Rule for evidence, Justice was obliged to share that with Senator Stevens's lawyers.
This was one of many prosecutorial missteps that came to light after Mr. Stevens was found guilty less than two weeks before Election Day. The Republican narrowly lost his bid for a seventh term. Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday promised a "thorough" probe into the conduct of prosecutors, which is the least the Department owes Mr. Stevens. The Obama Administration made the political calculation here to walk away from the original mistake made by Bush Justice rather than further embarrass the Department in post-trial hearings.
Recall the Stevens indictment was unveiled in July, on the eve of his primary. Announced by the acting head of Justice's Criminal Division, Bush-appointee Matthew Friedrich, the decision violated Department guidelines that prosecutors should avoid becoming players in elections. The charge was that the Senator failed to disclose that an Alaskan oil services company, Veco Corp., paid for renovation work on his chalet -- in essence, that he had lied on official forms. The Government never alleged, much less proved, the far more serious claim that Veco got anything in return from the Senator.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Does anyone think that this was a setup by the prosecution
to keep Stevens out of jail and quiet. At eighty five he still can remember where a lot of bones are buried. Don’t forget that a jury of his peers found him guilty.
Good riddance to RINO EarMarxists.
The more I read about this the more I feel that the DOJ dropped the charges to prevent an investigation into the process in which the Democrats, the MSM and DOJ attorneys worked together in a well coordinated and successful effort to target and destroy Senator Stevens. Now that the Democrats have taken his Senate seat they want the process ended and don’t want anyone to find out about how they did it.
So “zero” and his bunch wrangle 2 maybe 3 senate seats out of thin air. Begich, Burris and probably Franken. Not bad for street organizer who has never held a job./sarc
-PJ
April 1, 2009
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-ag-288.html
Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder Regarding United States V. Theodore F. Stevens
“In connection with the post-trial litigation in United States v. Theodore F. Stevens, the Department of Justice has conducted a review of the case, including an examination of the extent of the disclosures provided to the defendant. After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial.
“The Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct a thorough review of the prosecution of this matter. This does not mean or imply that any determination has been made about the conduct of those attorneys who handled the investigation and trial of this case.
“The Department of Justice must always ensure that any case in which it is involved is handled fairly and consistent with its commitment to justice. Under oftentimes trying conditions, the attorneys who serve in this Department live up to those principles on a daily basis. I am proud of them and of the work they do for the American people.”
###
09-288
I think it’s time for the Republicans to start pulling these same dirty tricks on the democrats. Unless both sides are hurt by this nothing will change. The whole system needs an overhaul but that won’t happen while it is just Republicans that are being targeted.
“I think it’s time for the Republicans to start pulling these same dirty tricks on the democrats.”
More and more, I find Watergate to be a Media Coup.
page is missing....wonder if they pulled it allready
It’s an issue because Ted Stevens was “convicted” on these bogus charges just days before the election. Stevens lost by a tiny fraction of the vote. If this kangaroo court never convicted Ted Stevens, there’s no way he would have been defeated.
I wouldn't call payments of $160,000 by Senator Stevens [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-stevens_webapr02,0,7388747.story] "no cost". The media and the prosecutors used the public's ignorance about the difference between city slickers' palatial second homes and rural "chalets" to smear Senator Stevens.
You're right about Obama's case.
It was a coup.
When you add politics to the equation, you end up with what you see here:
Stuff that would make a third-world country cringe in shame.
Hey, but at least the Democrats got that extra Alaska seat to go along with Burris' seat and the future Minnesota seat to be filled by Franken, the Tax Cheat Klown.
Well, just off the top of my head, how about bringing charges against Barney Frank, force him to resign like Delay.
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