Sen. Stevens pilloried as corruption trial wrapsThe Associated Press WASHINGTON: This was one critical debate he could only sit and listen to. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a legendary power broker on Capitol Hill, could do nothing but slump low in his chair Tuesday as prosecutors mocked him as crooked and two-faced. “This case has been a long time coming,” prosecutor Brenda Morris said in the closing minutes of Stevens’ corruption trial. “This trial has exposed the truth about one of the longest-sitting senators.” Stevens, 84, is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from his friend, millionaire oil contractor Bill Allen. Stevens argues that he paid every home improvement bill he received and says he had no obligation to report the tool box, massage chair, gas grill, furniture rope lighting and other items because he didn’t ask for them or didn’t consider them gifts. With the last word, Morris was relentless. She compared Stevens to a 6-year-old who cheats at hide-and-seek. She teased that perhaps Santa Claus had delivered Stevens a house full of furniture. She dismissed Stevens’ defense as nonsense. “If someone told you this exact same story sitting across your kitchen table, you’d say, ‘What?’” Morris said. Earlier in the day, defense attorney Brendan Sullivan said prosecutors had overblown the case and twisted the facts to make Stevens seem conniving. He recounted Stevens’ 40 years of Senate service, his World War II record and his dedication to Alaskans. “Without sufficient evidence, the government comes here late in the night of a good man’s life and tries to brand him a criminal,” Sullivan said. Morris told jurors not to see Stevens as a powerful politician. “I ask you to do something that very few people have done: Stand up to him,” Morris said. “Behind all that growling, all those snappy comebacks and that righteous indignation, he’s just a man.” Stevens is fighting for both his reputation and his Senate seat. He is fending off a tough challenge for the seat he’s held for 40 years from Democrat Mark Begich. Democrats have invested heavily in the campaign, sensing an opportunity to unseat the legendary Republican and perhaps capture a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Jurors were expected to begin deliberations Wednesday. The 12-member panel must be unanimous to find Stevens guilty. Stevens served as his own star witness, testifying for three days about renovations that transformed his modest mountain cabin into a handsome two-story home with wraparound porches, a wine cellar and a sauna. Allen, the government’s star witness, testified that his employees did most of the work on that house and that he never billed Stevens. Though Stevens sent letters asking for invoices, Allen said he figured Stevens was just trying to cover himself. Just as Stevens was pilloried, Allen’s honor also came under attack. Sullivan called him a “bum” and told jurors to question his motives. Allen, who has pleaded guilty to bribing state legislators, cut a deal with prosecutors to spare his children from being prosecuted. “What would a man say on a witness stand to protect his children?” Sullivan said. To believe the government, Sullivan said, you’d have to believe in “a master cover-up by a sinister senator.” With the trial wrapping up, the political ramifications became the talk of both political parties. “If the trial comes to a conclusion and, as he believes, that he is found innocent, I think that he will win that election up there,” Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Tuesday. “If it goes the other way, obviously it really won’t matter what happens in the election.” Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton sent an e-mail to supporters Tuesday, urging them to back Begich and others involved in close races. “With Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish,” the e-mail read. ___ On the Net: Justice Department documents: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/us-v-stevens/ |
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