Dismayed Lawyers Lay Out Reasons for Collapse of the Stevens Conviction

[elleng]

Source: NYT

'The ethics case against Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was to be a signal achievement for the Justice Department’s elite anticorruption unit, for decades the lead prosecutors on the nation’s highest-profile cases.

But in the aftermath of the collapse of the conviction last week, lawyers poring over the wreckage said they believed the case had been poorly managed and inadequately supervised, lacked sufficient resources and been hampered by conflicts between prosecutors and F.B.I. agents going back months.

Even before Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. moved last week to throw out the conviction, the trial record was filled with instances of serious prosecutorial mistakes that dismayed the large corps of Washington lawyers who followed the case, including former prosecutors and defense lawyers.

Most alarming to these lawyers was the prosecutors’ repeated failure to disclose information that might have helped the defense despite the sanctity in which lawyers are taught to hold those obligations.'




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/us/politics/07stevens.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[EFerrari]

1. Losers. I wonder how much someone got to throw this case.

What's it worth on the open market?

[leftynyc]

13. Gee - I can't imagine why

a republican DOJ would screw up a case against a republican senator. Whatever would make them do that?

[Demeter]

2. Incompetence Is the BushCo Trademark--And Thank Goodness!

Otherwise, we wouldn't even have the illusion of a democracy left, with all their shredding of the constitution, and dictatorship for W, and martial law planning....

Ted Stevens is finished, and so is BushCo. This is something where "moving on" is entirely appropriate.

I suggest moving on to prosecuting war crimes and economic crimes.

[No Elephants]

4. Bushco was extremely competent at some things. And Bushco is far from finished.

[Democracyinkind]

7. Agreed. Convincing us of their incompetence by putting the stupid son ..

... in the front row couldn't fool all of the people all of the time.

[Demeter]

11. But Stupid Son WAS in Charge!

And if they couldn't convince him to do something (ie: pardon Scooter, bomb Iran) he DIDN'T.


That's the problem with dealing with mentally ill and/or stupid people...it requires much more intelligence, subtlety, perseverence, and kindness than anybody else in BushCo had--especially Cheney.

[Democracyinkind]

16. Sorry, that's what I meant. His stupidness is no help for us

... if he is attached to BushCrimeFamily Strings

[acmavm]

3. Forget Stevens, Little Eric has them bad old pot smokers to prosecute.

You know, those really really bad guys who are smoking our country's way to ruin.

Can't prosecute corrupt politicians, even when they're on tape saying that they might have to spend some time in jail for what they've done.

[Fumesucker]

5. Bingo...

I thought it was telling that an OP yesterday with a quote from (I think) Holder about increasing the number of federal pot prosecutions got shouted down for what seemed to me to be bullshit reasons.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Democracyinkind]

8. That's my view, but I've almost grown scared of writing that here :-)

[acmavm]

9. Apparently not. The laws are just for you and me. And I don't know what

the hell you're talking about in regard to Frank.

[Fumesucker]

10. There was a scandal with Barney Frank and a homosexual prostitute

I don't recall the details, but I suspect that is what the poster is talking about.

[izquierdista]

12. In other words...

Standard Republican Operating Procedure: "poorly managed and inadequately supervised, lacked sufficient resources and been hampered by conflicts"

[Festivito]

14. MIHOP, Made Injustice Happen On Purpose so a ReSmug goes free.

Yes, just another cog in the Republican stealing machine.

[L. Coyote]

20. SPIN: It was just a "Series of Errors Doomed Stevens Prosecution"

GOOD ARTICLE:

==================
Series of Errors Doomed Stevens Prosecution
Mike Scarcella and Joe Palazzolo
Legal Times - April 6, 2009 - http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202429676167


On the night of Oct. 2, a group of about 10 prosecutors and FBI agents met for an all-hands meeting at the Bond Building on New York Avenue Northwest, the headquarters of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section.

Six days into the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, prosecutors realized they had failed to turn over a document that could aid the lawmaker's defense. The group debated what to do with it.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan had already lashed prosecutors once for releasing a witness without telling him -- or Stevens' lawyers. Disclosing the information, an FBI document about the government's chief witness dated February 2007, would likely dig the prosecution into a deeper hole with the judge.

It did. They turned over the document that night to Stevens' Williams & Connolly defense team. The next morning in court, Sullivan was indignant. "How does the court have any confidence that the Public Integrity Section has integrity?" the judge asked.

Sullivan whacked the government with a violation ...........

.... Stevens easily shelled out at least $2 million ......

[Festivito]

24. One of that series included a * prosecutor.

And I hope that prosecutor in series is shitting a series of bricks at this moment.

[Supersedeas]

23. the Bush League Justice Department strikes again.

[Festivito]

25. Talk about a League of his own. Try * League INjustice dept.

Under Obama its a DOJ, under * it's a DOI complete with a handslap to the forehead.

[Doctor_J]

15. IMO every prosecution by the Bush DoJ is probably ripe for appeal

the entire DoJ was completely corrupt for 8 solid years. Rove obviously had it in for Stevens or the inquiry would never have even begun.

[Mr. Sparkle]

17. Can Stevens be retried again? i dont see a problem with starting all over again unless there is some

stupid law against it !!!

[hugo_from_TN]

19. The U.S. Constitution would be the 'stupid law' against it.

[L. Coyote]

21. Yes, but this route was not chosen by Holder.

Stevens had asked the court for a retrial.
Justice could have agree to the motion and started over.
The court can still deny the dismissal motion from Justice and agree to retrial.
But, if the case is dismissed, double jeopardy prevails. Double jeopardy is a constitutional right that forbids being tried twice for the same crime on the same set of facts.

[Mr. Sparkle]

26. Thanks for clearing that up, shame about the ruling today !

it's looks he is going to walk away scot free

[elleng]

27. Not exactly.

Thanks to w's doj, he's out of a job and the reps are out of a senator.

[Ian David]

18. LIHOP or MIHOP? n/t

[L. Coyote]

22. Who Are the Lawyers in the Ted Stevens Trial?

Saturday, October 4, 2008 - http://alaskacorruption.blogspot.com/2008/10/who-are-lawyers-in-ted-stevens-trial.html
Who Are the Lawyers in the Ted Stevens Trial? (Part One: The Prosecutors)
Live from the Ted Stevens Trial—October 4, 2008

Washington, D.C.--

This trial features two big and powerful teams of attorneys going at each other. The prosecutors are lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice. The defense team comes from Williams &
Connolly, probably the country’s leading law firm for white-collar criminal defense.

Let’s start with the prosecution; the defense comes tomorrow.

If there was a movie made about this trial, you’d have to say that of all the people involved, Brenda Morris is the one individual most likely to play herself. The trial’s lead prosecutor boasts a strong voice that belies her short stature.

Morris is a feisty woman who displays her aggressiveness to good effect. You wonder if—like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin—she played high school basketball with an elbows-out style. Some of the best prosecutors in Alaska have had backgrounds as hard-nosed football or hockey players.

Morris is an African-American native of Washington, D.C .........