Prosecutors win extension in Stevens trial

The Justice Department on Thursday won an eleventh-hour extension to make its case against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), a move designed to blunt the impact of a federal judge’s decision to eliminate critical evidence from the trial. 

In the latest twist in the trial, now in its third week, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the Justice Department could call to the stand Dave Anderson, a former Veco Corp. employee, who worked at Steven’s Girdwood, Alaska, home when extensive renovations took place in 2000 and 2001. Anderson will testify Thursday.

{mosads}The department had originally planned to rest its case Thursday, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) both entered the courthouse expecting to be called as character witnesses on behalf of Stevens. The senator’s team now may not begin making its case until late in the day. Inouye, who leaves for Hawaii on Friday, may still testify, but Powell has been released for the day.

The judge ruled Wednesday that he would throw out records pertaining to work Anderson and another Veco employee, Rocky Williams, performed at the home, prompting prosecutors to alter their strategy. The judge also said he would instruct jurors to disregard evidence relating to a lucrative car swap, in which Stevens snagged a brand-new $44,000 Land Rover in exchange for $5,000 in cash and Veco chief Bill Allen's 1964 Mustang, worth no more than $20,000.

Stevens, 84, who faces reelection next month, is charged with seven counts of felony for failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Allen and other longtime friends. Even without the disputed evidence, the prosecution has built a case showing that Stevens repeatedly refused to report expense gifts and unpaid renovations, despite a federal requirement that senators disclose gifts worth more than $250.

But the prosecutors are worried that the judge’s instruction that they failed to provide evidence to the defense and presented inaccurate records during the trial will taint their credibility with the jury. The prosecution angered the judge after admitting that it failed to provide the defense with relevant documents, but contended it does not undermine the allegations that Stevens made false statements.

In late-night filings Wednesday, the Justice Department asked the judge not to issue the instructions, saying the government failed in its obligations to provide the defense with key evidence.

On Thursday, Brenda Morris, the lead Justice Department prosecutor, pleaded with Sullivan not to tell the jurors about the government’s error, allow Anderson to testify and simply strike from the evidence records of all Veco employees.

But the judge rejected the request.

“That’s my instruction and it’s not open for any reconsideration,” he said sternly. The jury has been dismissed as the two sides have squabbled over the evidence.

But overruling objections from the defense, which had lined up witnesses from Alaska as well as the prominent politicians to begin testifying Thursday, he said he would allow Anderson to testify.

“They were sanctioned for their conduct, and now they want to reverse, rewind and pretend that it never happened,” said Robert Cary, a defense attorney. “This is an afterthought in an attempt to pretend that a serious constitutional error never happened.”

In secret grand-jury testimony two years ago, Anderson said he was in Oregon for three months in 2000 even though he was billing Veco for his work at Stevens's home. But during the trial, the prosecution presented records showing Anderson worked at the home during those months and only later gave the defense the grand-jury testimony.

Anderson is Bill Allen's nephew, but the two have a contentious relationship, which the defense may try to highlight to impugn the credibility of the former Veco chief, who was the government's star witness. Anderson also was an alcoholic, which the defense will likely try to bring up during cross-examination Thursday.