Former Sen. Ted Stevens exonerated...

[ipscshooter]

Interesting...

Feds seek to reverse Ted Stevens' conviction

[/align]

AP"“In a Nov. 29, 2008 file photo Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, leaves the Senate chamber after making his"¦ [/align] [/align] [/align]
By DEVLIN BARRETT and NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett And Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writer "“ 4minsago

[/align] WASHINGTON "“ The Justice Department asked a judge Wednesday to toss out the corruption conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens because prosecutors withheld evidence from his defense team.


The department is abandoning a hard-fought victory that had turned into an embarrassment. The prosecutors who handled the trial have been removed from the case and their conduct is under investigation.


The case cost Stevens the Alaska seat he had held since 1968.


"I always knew that there would be a day when the cloud that surrounded me would be removed," Stevens said in a statement. "That day has finally come. It is unfortunate that an election was affected by proceedings now recognized as unfair."


A week after his conviction, Alaskans voted by a narrow margin to oust Stevens in the November election. The patriarch of Alaska politics since before statehood, Stevens, 85, also was the longest serving Republican senator.
He appealed his conviction and had been awaiting sentencing.


Stevens was convicted of seven felony counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from a wealthy oil contractor.


The trial was beset by government missteps, which continued even after the guilty verdict was read. The trial judge grew so infuriated he took the unusual step of holding the Justice Department in contempt.


In court filings, the Justice Department admitted it never turned over notes from an interview with the oil contractor, who estimated the value of the renovation work as far less than he testified at trial.


"I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial," Holder said in a statement released Wednesday. He said the department must ensure that all cases are "handled fairly and consistent with its commitment to justice."


The Justice Department is seeking to have the indictment against Stevens dismissed. If U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan agrees, Stevens' conviction would be vacated. The judge has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday.

[Alsatian]

Interesting, but I wouldn't characterize the information as an exoneration of Stevens. The information I read was consistent with the Justice Department repeatedly bungling the case but not necessarily that there wasn't a solid case against Stevens.

If nothing else, this would be good reading for those who are ready and willing to consign all their most important freedoms and affairs to the "steady hands and consistent care" of the federal government. When you are working for a government agency -- maybe one that you don't intend to continue to work for the entire duration of your career -- maybe under onerous and unrealistic work quotas and/or unrealistic budgets, the quality of the work isn't always of the best. I'm suggesting an associate attorney working at a good law firm where they hope to one day make partner/shareholder has a real stake in the quality of their work. This isn't necessarily the case in government jobs, and working for the Justice Department as an attorney . . . is still a government job. It is interesting to reflect that it used to be that government jobs wereassociated with the brightest and the best. Now we have the expression "close enough for government work." I heard recently that law firms don't like to hire former patent examiners from the US Patent and Trademark Office if they have been there longer than 2-3 years. The thought, supposedly, is that you saturate and learn the most valuable lessons and receive the most valuable training in 2-3 years. If you stay longer than 2-3 years it is because you prefer the laid-back, sinecure environment of government jobs. In point of fact, I doubt that life for examiners in the US Patent and Trademark Office is living the life of Riley -- they have tough and constant quotas that they need to comply with -- but this gives some idea of the low esteem in which government workers are held.

Sorry to hi-jack your thread, ipscshooter, just accidentally got onto my soap box.

By the way, I'm not saying Stevens is guilty, either, just the article didn't provide a solid foundation for innocence but rather just incompetence on the part of the US Justice Department.