Judge limits character witnesses for Stevens

The judge presiding over Sen. Ted Stevens's criminal trial limited the number of witnesses who would be allowed to vouch for the Alaska Republican's character.

In a Friday morning ruling, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the senator's defense team could only call five of the 11 character witnesses they planned to call to the stand. The judge agreed with the government that the defense had proposed an excessive amount of character witnesses who would add little substance during the trial.

{mosads}"I’ll limit it to five," Sullivan, of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, told defense attorneys. "You select the five or I’ll select the five."

The character witnesses are a key part of the strategy for defense attorneys, who are trying to show that the senator is an honest man and would not knowingly lie under oath. The longest-serving GOP senator has pleaded not guilty to seven felony charges for lying on his annual Senate financial disclosure forms by failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) was the first character witness to take the stand, testifying Thursday that his friend of four decades is an honest man who developed a sterling reputation in the Senate.

On Friday afternoon, former Secretary of State Colin Powell will testify vouching for the senator's "truthfulness" on federal intelligence and legislative issues, and his personal opinion of the senator, according to a Thursday night court filing.

It's unclear who else will testify to tout Stevens's character. According to the Thursday filing, the defense wanted to call a series of people who would have attested to the senator's demeanor through various episodes of his life, including a fellow World War II veteran, an Alaskan priest and a Capitol Hill police officer who was a former member of the senator's security detail.

In addition, the defense wanted to call John Ray, a former District of Columbia Council member, former Transportation Secretary William Coleman, Gwen Swykes, the chief financial officer at Yale University and a former staff member for Stevens, and Donna DeVorna, a former Olympic medalist who has worked with Stevens on some legislative issues.

As it has done previously, the defense also suggested it may call Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). But the lawyers acknowledged that Kennedy's battle with brain cancer makes it "unlikely" he would testify.

In the meantime, the defense is calling a series of witnesses aimed at rebutting the government's case that Stevens was showered with unreported gifts, including a $1,000 sled dog purchased in a 2003 auction and a $29,000 statue of fish.