U.S. Seeks to Drop Case Against Former Sen. Stevens

By Del Quentin Wilber, Washington Post

April 1, 2009

Attorney General Eric Holder announced this morning that he is dropping all the charges against former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who was convicted last year on corruption charges.

Holder had reviewed the case because of charges of prosecutorial misconduct that were being examined by the federal judge presiding over the case. The prosecution is expected to file a motion to drop the charges in U.S. District court this morning, said a Justice Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Holder had not yet made his announcement.

In a statement released this morning, Holder said the department had "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 decision was first reported this morning by National Public Radio.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who heard the case against Stevens, held four prosecutors in contempt for failing to give defense attorneys documents concerning allegations of misconduct by members of the government's legal team.

The Justice Department then announced that those prosecutors would no longer be part of legal proceedings dealing with the allegations.

Federal prosecutors have angered Judge Sullivan on several occasions. During the trial, he repeatedly chastised them over their handling of evidence and at least one witness.

Reached at his office this morning by the Anchorage Daily News, Stevens' lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, told the newspaper he has a meeting at the Justice Department at 10 a.m. but said he had not been informed of the reported decision by Justice, the Associated Press reported shortly before 9 a.m.

Stevens, who lost his reelection bid just a week after his conviction, was seeking to have the conviction tossed out in light of misconduct allegations, made by an FBI agent who worked on the case.

The agent, Chad Joy, alleged in a complaint that prosecutors intentionally withheld evidence from defense attorneys during the trial. He also said that an FBI agent had an inappropriate relationship with a star prosecution witness. That agent wore a skirt one day at trial to please the witness, Joy alleged. The complaint surfaced in December.

Prosecutors have said that their legal team did nothing wrong and that most of the issues Joy raised were addressed by the judge during the trial.

In his statement today, Holder said the Justice Department will review the prosecution. "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," he said. "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."