Justice Dept v Sen Stevens

[101Scout]

I have no idea if any of this trial is being covered by tv at all. This was one I wanted to watch!! Damnit!!! Please let me kn ow if you know where this Steven's trial can be viewed.


[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Stevens case could finish well before Election Day

By Manu Raju Posted: 09/26/08 06:55 PM [ET]

Sen. Ted Stevens's criminal case is moving much faster than expected and could end several weeks before Election Day, a dynamic that has significant ramifications on the Alaska Republican's bid for a seventh full term in the upper chamber.

"I really don't think this is a four-week trial at this point," Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said Friday afternoon.

Sullivan's comments come as the government's star witness, Bill Allen, is scheduled to testify Monday against Stevens. The outcome of the case could hinge on his testimony, which the defense is looking to discredit by bringing up damaging information such as an investigation into whether he had sex with an underage girl. The judge has yet to decide whether to allow that information to be brought up during the defense's cross-examination.

Initially, the Justice Department had expected to take three weeks to lay out its case that the longest-serving GOP senator in history concealed more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Allen, the former head of the now-defunct oil-services firm, Veco Corp., and other longtime friends.

Allen has already pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators, and will testify that Stevens was aware of the home renovations when he failed to report them on his Senate disclosure forms. Each of the seven felony counts of making false statements carries up to five years in prison.

Now the Justice Department says the prosecution could finish its case in one-and-a-half weeks, concluding either Friday, Oct. 3 or Monday, Oct. 6. Stevens's attorneys, who deny all seven charges, said they would take just one week to defend the senator.

That means the jury deliberations could start the week of Oct. 13, or earlier, and a verdict might be reached well before Election Day. If Stevens is acquitted, it could give him significant momentum as he returns to Alaska to campaign against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) in the closely contested race.

[101Scout]

Bill Allen is ratting Stevens out so far. Love it! Hope they make a movie out of this one. Unless they pull a last minute Rove, Stevens should take a ride up the river to nowhere.



[Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links];3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fleading-the-news%2Fkey-witness-stevens-sought-cover-by-asking-for-bills-2008-10-01.html)

Key witness: Stevens sought cover by asking for bills

By Manu Raju
Posted: 10/01/08 11:43 AM [ET]

A key witness testified on Wednesday that he was told Ted Stevens was “just covering his ass” in asking for bills to pay for extensive renovations that transformed the senator’s chalet in an Alaskan ski town.

Bill Allen, the former head of the now-defunct Veco Corp., testified in federal court that the Republican senator was aware of the renovations, including revamped electrical wiring, a new power generator, new decks and stairways, a reworked rooftop and the addition of an entire ground-level floor that required his home to be lifted on stilts. The 71-year-old's testimony is central to the gift-giving scandal that has landed the senator in criminal court.

The Justice Department is also using Allen's testimony to establish a motive for Stevens's alleged decision to conceal gifts and home renovations he received from the former oil-industry executive.

In October 2002, Stevens sent a handwritten note to Allen asking him for a bill to pay for those renovations, citing strict Senate ethics rules on gift-giving.

"When I think of the many ways in which you make my life easier and more enjoyable, I lose count," Stevens said in the note, which was admitted as evidence Wednesday.

"Friendship is one thing, compliance with ethics laws is different," Stevens said in the note.

In the note, Stevens stated that a friend who was helping oversee the renovations, Bob Persons, a local restaurant owner near his home in Girdwood, Alaska, would remind Allen to give the senator a bill for the work.

In court on Thursday, Allen said that Persons signaled that the senator only wanted cover by asking for a bill.

"Don’t worry about giving a bill, Ted's just covering his ass," Allen said Persons told him in 2002.

Stevens, sitting across the courtroom, remained expressionless, and barely made eye contact with his former close friend of some 25 years.

Stevens has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of felony for failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Allen and other longtime friends. His defense attorneys argue that he paid every bill he was given, including $160,000 in home renovations, and was unaware of other extensive renovations that Allen arranged without consulting the senator, who was 3,500 miles away working on Capitol Hill.

Allen is expected to be cross-examined by defense attorneys Wednesday afternoon.

[Icky]

Yo! Scout... Whatever happened to that Hillary Clinton trial in California?
.....

BTW, last I heard, Palin still wouldn't support Stevens... nor would she condemn him...

[101Scout]

Yo! Scout... Whatever happened to that Hillary Clinton trial in California?
.....

BTW, last I heard, Palin still wouldn't support Stevens... nor would she condemn him...

I think their trial was due to start this month, but there's been no word about this anywhere. It's so buried, it would make Cheney proud.


Folks have dropped the ball connecting some dots between Palin and Stevens. She was still doing business with the SOB this summer even while the crooked bastard was under indictment. Even if she didn't break any laws, it's still nice to expose pieces of shit like her who snuggles with the skunks. It's all about public exposure, the very shit Palin loves. I say expose her..... Palin still doing business with Stevens while he was under indictment. A person with better jugdement would have steered clear of someone dirty awaiting their trial. That's all that needs exposed.

[big sky brad]

After Allen testified against Stevens last week, Stevens' lawyers asked for a mistrial.

Judge said, "Nope."

Ted is dead.
His conviction will throw his re-election hopes into the garbage bin of history.

[Xena]

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

[101Scout]

After Allen testified against Stevens last week, Stevens' lawyers asked for a mistrial.

Judge said, "Nope."

Ted is dead.
His conviction will throw his re-election hopes into the garbage bin of history.

......... and virtually no tv coverage of this high powered trial at all either. I thot C-Span might cover this.....

[101Scout]

Holy shit! As much a fucking crooked bastard Stevens is and now a Dem stands up for Stevens at his trial. Fuck Inouye!!! Fuck Powell too!!! That tells me corrupt Alaskan money has found it's way to these suckass bastards who are now standing up for Stevens.


[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Inouye: Stevens does not lie
By Manu Raju
Posted: 10/09/08 05:21 PM [ET]


Daniel Inouye, the Senate’s third-most senior Democrat, testified Thursday that he trusted Sen. Ted Stevens with his life and that the two men had developed such a close friendship over four decades that the Alaska Republican’s daughter called him “Uncle Dan.”

“I can assure you his word is good; it's good enough to take to the bank,” Inouye, 84, said as his close friend sat across a crowded Washington courtroom and listened to the proceedings with an electronic hearing aid.

As the first witness called by Stevens's legal defense team, Inouye recalled the start of his Senate career in 1963 and how he and Stevens -- both senators from newly established states outside of the Lower 48 -- instantly bonded when the Republican joined the upper chamber in 1968.

“In fact we were considered as foreigners for a long time,” Inouye said.

The two were so close that Stevens's daughter, Lily, even considers the Hawaii Democrat an uncle.


Former Secretary of State Colin Powell plans to vouch for the senator's character Friday afternoon. The senator, 84, has pleaded not guilty and is seeking to win a seventh full term in next month's election.

[Xena]

Trust him with your life, but not your checkbook.

[101Scout]

Grump ass Stevens wraps us his last day of testimony on the stand. Don't forget that this is the SOB that Colin Powell praised as Powell possibly reenters the political world.


[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Sen. Stevens ends testimony; defense rests
By Manu Raju
Posted: 10/20/08 12:02 PM [ET]

Sen. Ted Stevens (R) on Monday finished testifying in his corruption trial and his defense attorneys rested their case 15 days before Alaska's dominant political figure faces the toughest reelection bid of his 40-year Senate career.

It was the Alaska Republican’s third and final day defending himself on the witness stand against charges that he concealed more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Bill Allen, the former head of the Veco Corp. oil-services company that stood to benefit from Stevens’s role in Washington. And it marked the first time in a generation that a sitting senator has testified in his own corruption case.

[101Scout]

For the record, the SOB Stevens has been found guilty on all 7 counts!!! Man, justice sure feels great when it happens in a fucking blue moon!!!!



[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Stevens guilty of felony charges
By Manu Raju
Posted: 10/27/08 04:02 PM [ET]

Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Senate Republican in history and patriarch of Alaska politics, was found guilty of felony charges for making false statements.

The verdict could spell the end of a 40-year Senate career for a man who rose to be one of the most dominant figures in the upper chamber and who helped transform Alaska in its 50 years of statehood. The verdict was reached after the jury deliberated since Wednesday and found the 84-year-old senator guilty of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts from Bill Allen, the former head of Veco Corp., and other friends.

The jury did not seem to buy the explanation from Stevens that Allen showered him with gifts he didn't want and was unaware of, and that he believed the $160,000 he gave to another contractor covered all costs for the home renovations.