Sen. Ted Stevens’s (Alaska) lawyers on Friday accused federal prosecutors of forcing a witness to lie under oath in the corruption case that effectively ended the career of the longest-serving Republican senator in history.
In a Friday court filing, Stevens’s attorneys accuse the government of forcing Dave Anderson, a welder from the oil-services firm Veco, to testify that he signed an inaccurate affidavit saying that his cooperation with the prosecutors would shield his family from further investigations by the Justice and Treasury departments.
{mosads}Anderson, in a Nov. 15 letter to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan for the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, said his testimony was false, saying that the government had offered him immunity for testifying about his role in remodeling Stevens’s home in Girdwood, Alaska.
“The Department of Justice has never ever denied that they shook my hand on this agreement but instructed me on how to sugar coat it and get it swept under the rug during the trial as they have told the court just the opposite,” Anderson said.
If Anderson testified that the affidavit was accurate, the defense could have cited it to argue that Anderson was giving misleading testimony to cooperate with the government and protect himself and his family from further prosecution.
“Without a shadow of a doubt I believe this trial would have gone much differently,” Anderson said in his letter.
Stevens, 85, was convicted last month on seven felony charges for concealing gifts and free home renovations from Bill Allen, the head of Veco, and Anderson’s uncle. Stevens’s conviction came just eight days before his reelection bid for a seventh full term. After the state spent three weeks counting absentee and challenged ballots, Stevens officially lost the race Tuesday night to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D), and gave his farewell speech to the Senate on Thursday.
Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count, and the sentencing date will be announced after the court holds a February hearing to consider further motions. He plans to appeal his conviction.
Stevens’s lawyers, who have accused the government of presenting a false case to the jury, say the new evidence should be considered in a new hearing to determine the appropriate remedies. They say they should be able to question prosecutors and FBI agents under oath “so that the record will reflect exactly what happened — i.e., what the government did with respect to Mr. Anderson, what the government knew, and when the government knew it,” the defense team argued in a brief filed Friday.
Sullivan, who repeatedly scolded prosecutors for mishandling key evidence, condemned the government during the trial for not handing over Anderson’s grand-jury testimony, in which he said he was not at the Girdwood site for months when the renovations were occurring. Sullivan ordered all records on Anderson’s time spent at the site to be withdrawn from the evidentiary record.
Anderson, who was the last government witness to testify, said the government intentionally withheld the evidence, because prosecutors believed they did not have to turn it over until 24 hours before he testified. He said he is “scared for my life” that he won’t receive immunity.