Posted by Jonathan Adler:
DoJ Seeks to Toss Stevens Conviction:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_29-2009_04_04.shtml#1238633913
In response to serious allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, the
Department of Justice is [1]seeking to have Senator Stevens' felony
convictions thrown out. The Washington Post [2]editorializes:
this extraordinary reversal cannot erase or forgive the ugly
behavior that gave rise to the indictment in the first place. Trial
records and testimony painted a picture of a man so consumed with
his own sense of entitlement that he did not think twice about
accepting such expensive freebies as a Viking gas grill, a
vibrating Shiatsu massage lounger and a five-foot sculpture of
migrating salmon -- not to mention extensive plumbing, electrical
and carpentry work on his "chalet" in Girdwood, Alaska. All told,
the government calculated that Mr. Stevens took gifts worth in
excess of $250,000.
Gross breaches of law and fairness by prosecutors are the reason
that Mr. Stevens will walk free. The Justice Department admitted
that the lawyers from the Public Integrity Section who put Mr.
Stevens on trial failed to turn over to defense lawyers information
about contradictory statements by a key prosecution witness. An
agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who worked on the case
also recently alleged that prosecutors had been willfully
withholding pertinent evidence from the defense team. . . .
The decision could not have been easy for Attorney General Eric H.
Holder Jr., who cut his teeth as a prosecutor in the very same
Public Integrity Section. But it was the right call.
Prior posts on the Stevens prosecution can be found [3]here and
[4]here.
References
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/01/AR2009040100763.html?hpid=topnews
2.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/01/AR2009040100763.html?hpid=topnews
3. http://volokh.com/posts/chain_1225152923.shtml
4. http://volokh.com/posts/chain_1234654598.shtml
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