oct 22 -- clippings stevens jury deliberates

8/14/2019 Oct 22 -- Clippings Stevens Jury Deliberates

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Stevens Jury Deliberations 10/22/08 1 of 19 pages


http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/21/stevens.trial/index.html

From Paul CoursonCNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Ted Stevens repeatedly asked for invoices to cover homerenovations and otherwise complied with Senate rules on accepting and reporting gifts of value,

his defense attorney said in closing arguments Tuesday.

Sen. Ted Stevens leaves the federal courthouse Tuesday evening with his daughter Beth Stevens.


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Stevens, 84, has been fighting a seven-count indictment accusing him of filing false statementson mandatory financial disclosure forms. The jury is scheduled to begin deliberating Wednesday.

In closing arguments, prosecutors said Stevens engaged in an elaborate scheme to acceptthousands of dollars in gifts from Alaskan oil industry executive Bill Allen, who has admitted hetried to bribe state legislators, including the senator's son.

Stevens is not accused of bribery, but one prosecutor suggested he accepted gifts, concealedthem from the public, and "took care of Bill" -- referring to Allen, the founder of oil servicescontractor Veco Corp.

The trial has revolved around a construction project at the Stevens family chalet in Girdwood,Alaska, about 40 miles from Anchorage at the foot of a ski resort. Allen, starting in 2000, helpedorganize labor, materials and subcontractors that doubled the size of the home.

In his closing arguments, defense attorney Brendan Sullivan said the government failed to proveits case beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the jury should acquit Stevens on all counts.

He noted Allen had testified that Stevens would have paid whatever bills were sent, but that hedecided not to tell Stevens the full cost "because I like Ted."

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Prosecutors grill Stevens as trial comes to a close Stevens insists family paid for all chalet renovations Sen. Stevens takes stand in his corruption trial Neighbor disputes star witness

Allen also testified an Alaskan neighbor overseeing the home renovation said Stevens was "justtrying to cover his ass" in requesting invoices for the project. Prosecutors have said none of theevidence shows Stevens ever paid Allen or Veco, and that neither is named on the disclosureforms.

The neighbor, Bob Persons, testified during the trial that he never made that remark.

On Tuesday, the defense highlighted the contradiction against the testimony of the prosecution'sstar witness, making it a theme throughout a series of correspondence in which Stevenscontinued to ask for a full accounting.

"If you're covering your ass," Sullivan told the jury, "why, a month later, are you asking for thebill again?"

Prosecutors played a recorded phone call between Persons and Allen.

"Ted gets hysterical when he has to spend his own money," Bob Persons told a mutual friend inthe recording, which was played for jurors by Joe Bottini, the assistant U.S. attorney for Alaska.


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Stevens, who spends most of his time in Washington, gave Persons power of attorney so hecould get the required building permit to work on the chalet Stevens has owned since 1983.

Persons also confided to Allen that he didn't believe Stevens had enough money to do theremodeling.

Later Tuesday, the government made its final case.

"Wow!" shouted prosecutor Brenda Morris as she stood to address the jury, "Were we at thesame trial? Because the evidence I saw was totally different."

She urged the jury to find the senator guilty on all counts, saying the evidence shows "TedStevens knowingly and repeatedly violated the law because he thought he was above the law."

The judge will remind the jury that Allen's testimony against Stevens is part of a deal withprosecutors that could reduce his jail time when sentenced for attempted bribery. Morris, the leadprosecutor in the Stevens case, tried to bolster Allen's standing as the jury prepared to deliberate.

"The only thing he's guilty of with regard to this defendant is standing up and telling the truth"about materials and labor he arranged on the home improvement project, Morris said of Allen."It was the defendant who is responsible for reporting it."

If convicted on all counts, Stevens would face a maximum sentence of 35 years. Legal expertsnote the judge has the discretion to give Stevens as little as no jail time and probation.

Former federal prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers have told CNN that if convicted onsome or all of the counts, the senator probably would face between a year to more than two yearsin jail.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/21/stevens.trial/index.html


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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-stevens22-2008oct22,0,5271824.story

Stevens case goes to the jury

Dana Verkouteren / Associated PressThis artist's rendering depicts a scene from the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens today at U.S. District Court inWashington.Once considered a slam dunk, the corruption charges against the Alaska senator look too close to call.

By Richard B. Schmitt

October 22, 2008Reported from Washington -- As the fate of Sen. Ted Stevens is placed in the hands ofa jury today, the government's once-powerful corruption case against the long-servingRepublican suddenly looks too close to call.

Because of a finding of prosecutorial misconduct by U.S. District Judge Emmet G.Sullivan, one of the signature allegations in the indictment -- that Stevens got asweetheart car deal from an Alaskan oil tycoon -- will not be considered by the jury.

In addition, what at first seemed like slam-dunk charges that Stevens and his wife,

Catherine, got a free makeover of their Alaskan home has been undercut by evidencethat the Stevenses paid tens of thousands of dollars out of their own pocket for theupgrade, and that the finished product was not wildly out of line with its assessed value.

"Initially it looked like a win for the government, but there may be enough reasonabledoubt" to swing the verdict in favor of Stevens or leave the jury deadlocked and cause amistrial, said Henry Hockeimer, a Philadelphia lawyer and former federal prosecutor.


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The nature of the indictment itself could leave jurors hung up, he said. Stevens wascharged with violating Senate financial disclosure rules rather than the more serious,and difficult to prove, crime of trading his office for favors as part of a bribery scheme.

"It was an odd way to charge," Hockeimer said. "The jury may perceive this as thegovernment intent on getting this entrenched, crusty senator."

But Stevens and his lawyers also have to contend with the fact that Stevens was thebeneficiary of some extraordinary munificence, including an assortment of unreported orunder-valued gifts such as a professional-grade gas grill and an Iditarod sled dogpuppy. Also, neither Stevens nor his wife was able to account for whether theypaid for a new wraparound deck that was installed more than a year after theirhome's main renovation was complete.

Legal experts said his fate was likely to be determined by what jurors make of his ownhigh-stakes decision to take the witness stand and whether he struck them as credibleand sympathetic. They said the prosecution appeared to pick up momentum as the trialproceeded.

"There is a perception that, if the government brings a case, especially against a high-profile public official, there is going to be fire to back up that smoke. In the first threequarters of the trial, we saw the government struggle," said Joshua Berman, aWashington lawyer and former federal prosecutor.

But Berman said the U.S. "scored a number of powerful points" in its cross-examinationof Stevens, who was put in a position of having to acknowledge that he received manyitems of value from friends, but that he did not really want them or did not consider themhis own.

The government showed that Stevens was given a $2,700 vibrating massage chair froma neighbor back home in Girdwood, Alaska.

Stevens said the gift was a loan, although it has remained in his Washington home forseven years.

"What were the terms of this loan?" prosecutor Joseph W. Bottini asked in closingremarks Tuesday. "Zero percent interest for 84 months?"

Stevens' position during trial that his wife was in charge of the home renovation bills,and that he was somehow less responsible, could also strike some jurors the wrong

way. "That woman is still recovering from a bus he threw her under," prosecutor BrendaMorris told the jury Tuesday.

Stevens' lawyer, Brendan V. Sullivan, said his client was being victimized by anoverzealous prosecution.

"We are trying to convict an innocent man in this courtroom on an interpretationof evidence that is so far from real life that it should make you sick," Sullivan said


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Tuesday.

He urged the jurors to accept at face value statements Stevens had made in e-mailsand other correspondence in which he requested bills for the home renovations.Prosecutors say he wrote the letters to cover himself.

Sullivan derided the notion that Stevens "must stay awake all night long thinkingabout what to say in these letters and whether it is going to look good eight yearsout."

"Do you have any evidence he cares about a grill or a fish sculpture or the rest ofthat stuff?" Sullivan asked, alluding to some of the items in dispute.

But the government said there was evidence that Stevens knew he was up to no good.

Bottini played a secretly recorded phone conversation in which Stevens raised thepossibility of having to do jail time.

"Who talks about spending a little time in jail unless they have done something wrong?"Bottini said.

Schmitt is a Times staff writer.

[email protected]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-stevens22-2008oct22,0,5271824.story


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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/jury-deliberations-begin-in-stevenss-trial-2008-10-22.html

Jury deliberations begin in StevensstrialBy Manu Raju

Posted: 10/22/08 12:51 PM [ET]

The jury has begun considering the criminal case against Sen. Ted Stevens that will determinethe Alaska Republicans future.

A conviction on charges that he knowingly concealed lavish gifts from an Alaska oil tycoonwould almost certainly end the longest-serving Republican senators political career. Anacquittal would put Stevens back on the campaign trail in time to make his case for another term.

"The case is yours," said Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of


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Columbia, after instructing the jury Wednesday morning for more than one hour on how toevaluate the case.

To convict Stevens, the jurors must reach a unanimous decision on felony charges that Stevensintentionally made false statements on his Senate disclosure forms. Stevens, 84, has pleaded notguilty to knowingly and willfully concealing more than $250,000 worth of gifts and free home

renovations from former Veco Corp. head Bill Allen and other friends.

The 12-person jury evaluating the case consists of eight women and four men. Ten of the 12jurors are black, one is a white woman and the other is a young Hispanic man.

The case will likely turn on whether the jurors believe Stevens's defense that he didn't want andwas unaware of gifts he received from Allen, or whether Allen was giving credible testimonythat he gave Stevens gifts and the senator was covering himself in asking for bills.

"You are the sole judges of the facts," Sullivan told the jury. "It is your duty to convict if youreconvinced beyond a reasonable doubt."

Sullivan told the jurors that they must not consider evidence from a 1999transaction in which Allen gave Stevens a brand-new $44,000 Land Rover inexchange for $5,000 in cash and a 1964 Mustang worth no more than $20,000.He also said that the timesheets of two Veco employees who worked on thehome remodeling project must not be considered as evidence.

Those pieces of evidence were stricken because the government violated thejudge's order to give Stevens's defense team relevant information before thecase began.

Also, the judge struck evidence relating to a boxing bag, gift bags and gunsStevens received as gifts, saying "it has no relevance to the case."

But the jury will still consider a mountain of evidence, including whetherAllen paid some $188,000 for Stevens's home remodeling project, and whetherhe failed to disclose that information publicly.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/jury-deliberations-begin-in-stevenss-trial-2008-10-22.htmlhttp://thehill.com/leading-the-news/jurors-cant-reach-verdict-stevens-after-day-1-2008-10-22.html

Jurors can't reach Stevens verdict on Day 1By Manu Raju

Posted: 10/22/08 04:57 PM [ET]


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The jury controlling Sen. Ted Stevenss fate concluded its first day of deliberationswithout reaching a verdict.

In a note to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, the jurors reported stressful talks in theirfirst day of talks and were allowed to leave early for the day. The 12-person jury

began deliberating earlier today and will continue Thursday morning.

A conviction on charges that he knowingly concealed lavish gifts from an Alaskaoil tycoon would almost certainly end the longest-serving Republican senatorspolitical career. An acquittal would put Stevens back on the campaign trail in timeto make his case for another term.

To convict Stevens, the jurors must reach a unanimous decision on felony chargesthat Stevens intentionally made false statements on his Senate disclosure forms.Stevens, 84, has pleaded not guilty to knowingly and willfully concealing more

than $250,000 worth of gifts and free home renovations from former Veco Corp.head Bill Allen and other friends.

The case will likely turn on whether the jurors believe Stevens's defense that hedidn't want and was unaware of gifts he received from Allen, or whether Allen wasgiving credible testimony that he gave Stevens gifts and the senator was coveringhimself in asking for bills.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/jurors-cant-reach-verdict-stevens-after-day-1-2008-10-22.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/politics/2008/10/stevens_trial_raises_senate_el.html

Stevens Trial Raises Senate Eligibility Questions

Can a U.S. senator continue to be a member of the upper chamber of Congress if he or she hasbeen convicted of a felony?

The question arises because a federal jury is weighing a verdict in the trial of Alaska RepublicanSenator Ted Stevens. The Senate's longest-serving Republican is being tried on seven felony


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charges of lying about alleged gifts on financial disclosure forms. Stevens is also trying to get re-elected to an eighth term Nov. 4.

The answer, it seems, is a definite "maybe". US Senate Associate Historian Donald Ritchie saysthere have been only eleven U.S. senators in more than two centuries who've been indicted whileserving. Of those, not one was expelled by fellow senators. An expulsion requires the backing of

at least a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Most either resigned to avoid expulsion or wereacquitted of the charges against them before the Senate took action.

According to Ritchie, the Senate can essentially do anything it wants to about indicted orconvicted members. "The US Constitution gives the Senate tremendous latitude to judge thequalifications of its members," says Ritchie, "and historically the Senate's been very reluctant toexpel such members."

Instead, the Senate has generally preferred to wait for the appeals process to play out for amember convicted of a felony. A member such as Stevens, even if he is convicted and then re-elected, would likely be "seated without prejudice" -- that is, allowed to be sworn in once again,

but subject to further action by the Senate if an appeal is rejected. If that were to happen, thematter would likely be dealt with by either the Rules or Ethics committee before being taken upby the full Senate.

-- David Welna

6:22 PM ET | 10-22-2008

http://www.npr.org/blogs/politics/2008/10/stevens_trial_raises_senate_el.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203097.html

Citing Stress, Stevens Jury Asks for BreakThursday, October 23, 2008; Page A05

Four hours after beginning deliberations in the corruption trial ofSen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska),jurors sent a note to the judge requesting a break because things are "kind of stressful."

"We need a minute of clarity for all," the jury foreman wrote in the note, which was read aloud incourt by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.


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Sullivan then sent the jury of eight women and four men home. The jury, which will return todeliberate this morning, was given the case yesterday after hearing a lengthy set of instructionsfrom Sullivan and listening to a month of testimony.

Stevens is accused by federal prosecutors of lying on financial disclosure forms to hide receivingmore than $250,000 in gifts and renovations to his Girdwood, Alaska, house. Stevens's attorneys

contend that the senator paid all the bills he received for the work on the house.

-- Del Quentin Wilber

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203097.html

http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Vote2008/story?id=6089745&page=1


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http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Vote2008/story?id=6089745&page=1


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http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/stevens_fight_for_political_li.php

Stevens' Fight For Political Life Rests in Hands of JuryTPM, NY - 12 hours agoBy Kate Klonick - October 22, 2008, 11:42AM With closing arguments finished, all that'sleft in the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens, is jury instructions and ...

Stevens' Fight For Political Life Rests in Hands of Jury

By Kate Klonick- October 22, 2008, 11:42AM

With closing arguments finished, all that's left in the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens, is jury instructionsand deliberation. Those will start this morning, and depending on how long the jury deliberates,we could have a decision in the historic trial of the only sitting senator ever indicted as early asthis afternoon.

So let's take this time to look back at some of the highs and lows from the four week long trial.

One of the biggest lows, for the prosecution anyway, was Judge Emmet Sullivan's exclusion ofkey evidence after the government failed to provide the defense with copies of evidence andnever provided promised testimony.

The prosecution semi-recovered from the ruling, calling a late witness, Dave Anderson -- whoworked for VECO and on Stevens' renovations -- to testify in order to compensate for some ofthe excluded evidence.

While it looked like this blow against the government's case seemed devastating, that was before

Stevens took the stand. The seven-term senator's two days of testimony (which we blogged hereand here) added a new variable to the trial and it's difficult to tell if Stevens' curmudgeonlyanswers on cross-examination helped or hindered his cause.

An un-related moment in the trial, but a favorite at TPM, was the possibility of Martha Stewart'sattorney being called as a witness. The judge excluded his testimony, but gave this wonderfulquote, captured by theBlog of Legal Times:

"The words 'Martha Stewart' mean different things to differentpeople," Judge Sullivan said. "There is no universal meaning of

'Martha Stewart.'"

Yesterday's closing arguments, were predictably theatrical especially from the defense --sometimes too theatrical. Stevens' attorney Brendan Sullivan was apparently modulating hisvoice so widely between shouts and whispers that the jury had to stop Sullivan's closing to askhim to repeat words he intimately breathed to the jurors, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The prosecution spent much of the time incredulously recalling Stevens' testimony and"growling" answers on cross-examination.


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"Maybe since the defendant lives so close to the North Pole, maybe Santa and his elves camedown and did this work and completed it. He had no idea," said prosecutor Brenda Morris.

And with that, we wait -- like expectant children on Christmas Eve -- for the jury to reach adecision on the fate of Sen. Stevens

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/stevens_fight_for_political_li.php

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/10/22/lawyers_spar_over_stevens_at_corruption_trial/

Lawyers spar over Stevens at corruption trial

Deliberations to begin today

Senator TedStevens left court in Washington yesterday. He is charged with lying on Senate financialdisclosure forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received. (Manuel BalceCeneta/Associated Press)By Matt Apuzzo and Jesse J. HollandAssociated Press / October 22, 2008


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WASHINGTON - Prosecutors accused Alaska Senator Ted Stevensyesterday of "believing he was above the law" by not reporting extravagantgifts while defense lawyers said the government skewed skimpy evidence totry and convict an honest man who was too trusting of a crooked friend.

"Without sufficient evidence, the government comes here late in the nightof a good man's life and tries to brand him a criminal," defense lawyerBrendan Sullivan told jurors in closing arguments.

Prosecutor Brenda Morris countered with an accusation that a verydeliberate and crafty Stevens "believed he was above the law," and "hethinks he's entitled to break the law" by taking gifts whenever it suited him.

"This trial has exposed the truth about one of the longest serving senators,"Morris said.

The 84-year-old Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator, ischarged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about $250,000 inhome renovations and other gifts he received from his friend, millionaireBill Allen, founder of oil services company VECO Corp.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations today. The 12-member panelmust be unanimous to find Stevens guilty.

Stevens testified for three days and said he repeatedly asked Allen for billsfor the renovation work that changed the modest A-frame cabin into a two-story home with wraparound decks, new electricity and plumbing, a saunaand a master-bedroom balcony. He also said he never asked for the ropelighting, furniture, gas grill, fully stocked tool chest, or other items that keptappearing at his house.

Morris said all of the gifts are still at Stevens's house, making Stevens'sstory "incredible and unbelievable."

"If someone told you this exact same story sitting across your kitchen table,you'd say, 'What?"' she said.

Morris said a friend suggested that since Girdwood cabin is in Alaska,"maybe Santa and his elves came down" from the North Pole and put thegifts at Stevens's house.


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Sullivan accused the Justice Department of twisting the case to make anhonorable senator appear corrupt. When prosecutors "look at life through adirty glass," he said, "then the whole world looks dirty."

Stevens and his wife paid $160,000 for the remodeling, and Sullivan toldjurors that more than covered the cost of the project.

He told jurors to focus on the many letters and e-mails in which Stevensasks to be billed for his home renovations.

Stevens says he assumed the bills were sent and that his wife paid them.Prosecutors say Stevens wrote the letters to cover himself.

To believe that, Sullivan told jurors, "You've got to think he's somemastermind of a conspiracy, who writes something so it'll protect himselfseven, eight years later."

"That's sick," Sullivan said. "That's sick thoughts. That's not real life."

Sullivan also attacked Allen, the government's star witness, calling him a"bum." He told jurors that Allen - who has pleaded guilty to bribing statelegislators - is offering substantial help to prosecutors in hopes of keepinghis children from being prosecuted.

"What would a man say on a witness stand to protect his children?"Sullivan said.

Also, Allen is trying to protect his financial interests and perhaps reduce hisjail time by maybe helping "the government get a senator convicted. Thatwould be substantial," Sullivan said.

To believe the government, you'd have to believe in "a master cover-up by asinister senator," Sullivan said.

"Wow," Morris exclaimed. "Were we at the same trial?"

Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/10/22/lawyers_spar_over_stevens_at_corruption_trial/

oct 22 -- clippings stevens jury deliberates

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