Stevens’s attorneys, government trade barbs

Sen. Ted Stevens’s legal team and federal prosecutors traded sharp barbs Friday, with the defense accusing the Justice Department of “gamesmanship” and the government arguing that the Alaska Republican was seeking special treatment in the case.

{mosads}In an emergency motion filed Friday morning to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, defense attorney Robert Cary complained that the more than 1,000 potential trial exhibits that the government submitted Thursday night would cost them “multiple days merely to identify the exhibits the government would use against [Stevens].”

He said that the electronic format made it nearly impossible for the defense to respond to the exhibits to meet the court’s deadlines before the trial begins on Sept. 22.

In response, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan scheduled a hearing for Friday afternoon, where the two sides sparred ahead of the senator’s corruption trial.

“Do you really think the government went out of its way to make it more difficult for you?” Sullivan asked. “I haven’t seen a lot of gamesmanship on either side.”

Alex Romain, another attorney for Stevens, said there was “gamesmanship,” arguing the format lacked proper search queries and required the defense to go through thousands of pages individually.

“What makes it so strange, your honor, is that the government is resisting so strongly to giving us a box of documents,” Romain said.

Brenda Morris, a counsel with the Justice Department, shot back forcefully, saying the government was “bending over backwards” to accommodate a quick trial that Stevens has sought, and has moved swiftly to provide his team with the evidence prosecutors plan to use in trial. “He’s not giving us the due that we deserve,” she said.

The Justice Department attorney suggested that the defense was wasting the court’s time and the dispute could have been resolved by a telephone call.

“Just because he has ‘U.S. senator’ before his name doesn’t mean we have to drink out of a fire hose every time they call us,” Morris said.

“They call, we jump,” she fumed.

Cary rejected the criticism. “We are defending a U.S. citizen in a criminal case,” he said.

The judge ordered the government to provide to the defense paper documents of the exhibits by Saturday morning. A status hearing is set for next Thursday before the trial begins Sept. 22.

Stevens, the longest-serving GOP senator, has been charged with seven counts of concealing more than $250,000 worth of home renovations and gifts from a now-defunct oil-services company, Veco Corp. The senator, who did not appear in court on Friday, has pleaded not guilty and is hoping to clear his name before he faces Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) in the November election.

Stevens’s attorneys also argued that the government had not provided all the information — including FBI memos, interview notes and grand jury transcripts — it plans to use against Stevens in the case. It said it needed the relevant information to cross-examine all witnesses in the case.

But the Justice Department argued that Stevens has been granted all the information he is entitled to, including grand jury testimony of two witnesses.

The judge sided with the government’s arguments.

Part of the evidence includes photos of an extra level allegedly added to Stevens’s ski chalet in Girdwood, Alaska, by Veco officials.

The defense raised concerns that the photos could be enhanced to make the renovations seem more extensive than they were. Cary called Stevens’s house “modest.”

“A modest chalet?” Sullivan asked.

“It’s called a chalet, but it’s modest,” Cary said.