Stevens Not So Confident He Can Prove His Innocence Before ElectionProsecutors Accuse Stevens Of Tactics To Delay Trial Stevens Admits “Speedy” Trial May Not Happen Before Election Day Anchorage, Alaska – This week in a motion filed by the Department of Justice, federal prosecutors accused Senator Ted Stevens of tactics to delay his “speedy” trial. Stevens’ defense team requested an accelerated trial schedule to be completed before Election Day in November. But since the indictment, Stevens’ lawyers have filed eight motions, asked for the ability to file motions after the deadline and throughout the trail, and have yet to produce the required exhibit and witness list. Clearly, Stevens’ new election strategy is to delay the trial. The U.S. District Court hearing on pretrial motions is set for this Wednesday, September 10 in Washington, DC. “Senator Stevens is not so sure he can prove his innocence before the election,” said Bethany Lesser, spokeswoman for the Alaska Democratic Party. “Stevens claims he wants a quick trial, but filed motion after motion to delay it. After it was revealed that the prosecution recorded Stevens 105 times, Stevens isn’t as confident that he can prove his innocence. Voters in Alaska deserve to have this resolved before Election Day.” In the motion filed this week, the Department of Justice said that while prosecutors had provided exhibit and witness lists, Stevens’ defense team has not done the same. Prosecutors said, “…although at arraignment defendant demanded a speedy trial, requested immediate discovery, and expressed a goal ‘that there would be absolutely no delay in the proceedings themselves,’ defendant has now elected not to disclose the identity, basis, or reports of any expert witnesses that the defendant intends to use in his case in chief.” For the past week, Stevens has hedged his claims of wanting the trial to be completed before Election Day. Thursday morning on the Rick Rydell radio show on KENI 650 AM, Stevens said, “Well, I’m really looking forward to finding a way to close – to remove this cloud. I’d just like to get this thing settled, I don’t know if that is possible before the election, but we’re looking into that this next week”. On primary night, when asked about his request for a speedy trial on KTUU Channel 2, the NBC affiliate in Anchorage, Stevens angrily responded, “I asked for a speedy trial. I didn’t put any timeline about when it’s going to happen. I can’t do that. That’s not my problem.” When asked if he still wanted the trial to be held before Election Day, Stevens responded, “No, that’s immaterial now. We’re to run the election and the trial will take care of itself. If it’s over before the election, fine, if not, we’re going to still run.” On July 30, Stevens was indicted on seven felony counts related to accepting illegal gifts valued at more than $250,000 from VECO. As a result of the indictment, Stevens was forced to resign his seniority on committees. The Alaska Democratic Party has called on Stevens to step down from his Senate seat, retire, and focus on his legal issues. # # # |
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