Mistrial for Stevens denied

Associated Press | October 3, 2008

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 3, 2008

WASHINGTON - A federal judge rejected a vigorous defense bid for a mistrial yesterday in the corruption case against Sen. Ted Stevens despite finding that prosecutors broke rules requiring them to turn over evidence favorable to the veteran Alaska lawmaker.

After a roller-coaster day of discord, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan told lawyers that ending the trial after several days of testimony would be too drastic. Instead, he ordered the government to give stacks of previously undisclosed documents to the defense and called a recess until Monday.

Sullivan had suggested at a hearing before his decision that he might take the unusual step of allowing defense attorneys to amend their opening statement using the new information.

But defense attorney Robert Carey refused the offer, saying the damage was done. “The trial is broken and it can’t be fixed,” he said. “It’s been played on an uneven playing field.”

At the same hearing, prosecutor Brenda Morris struggled to explain why some evidence, especially FBI reports based on interviews with their star witness, wealthy businessman Bill Allen, about unreported gifts to Stevens, had been withheld or heavily censored. The judge said the government was violating rules of evidence requiring prosecutors to share information that could help criminal defendants prove their innocence.

“It was bad judgment,” said Morris, who specializes in prosecuting government corruption for the Justice Department. “It was a mistake.”

“How do I have confidence that the Public Integrity Section has integrity?” the judge shot back.

The government’s case appeared in jeopardy earlier yesterday when Stevens’ defense team persuaded the judge to suspend the trial for the day, send the jury home and consider throwing out the charges.

The defense accused the government of seeking to sabotage its case by withholding portions of the disputed FBI reports until nearly midnight on Wednesday. The FBI probe already has sent several Alaska state lawmakers to prison, but the dispute threatened the crown jewel of the case.