Stevens’s attorney calls case ‘twisted’

The Justice Department’s case against Sen. Ted Stevens is a “twisted” argument built around the testimony of a man who has a “motive to lie,” Stevens’s lawyer said Tuesday during closing arguments.

Defense attorney Brendan Sullivan paced the courtroom and threw up his arms in a theatrical display, condemning the prosecution for asserting that the longest-serving Republican in Senate history is a "mastermind of conspiracy."

{mosads}"We’re trying to convict an innocent man in this courtroom on an interpretation of evidence that is so far from real life that it should make you sick," Sullivan said.

Sullivan repeatedly said the government was looking through "a dirty glass" in contorting evidence that showed the Alaska senator's intent to pay all bills related to an elaborate remodeling project at his mountainside chalet in Girdwood, Alaska.

"The government doesn’t want you to understand the evidence here," Sullivan said, pointing to notes Stevens wrote saying he wanted all bills for the costs of the home improvements.

Stevens, 84, is charged with lying on his Senate financial disclosure forms by failing to report that he received some $250,000 in gifts and free home renovations from oil-industry executive Bill Allen and other longtime friends. He has pleaded not guilty, and the jury will begin deliberating Wednesday — 13 days before Alaska voters decide whether Stevens should continuing sitting in the Senate seat he has held for 40 years.

Sullivan, a veteran criminal defense lawyer who represented Oliver North during the Iran-contra scandal in the mid-1980s, sought to undermine the credibility of Allen, now the government's star witness.

Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators and is now cooperating with the government in the case against Stevens.

"We're looking at Bill Allen as though he’s the bum that he turned out to be," Sullivan said.

Because of his guilty plea and his desire for a more lenient jail sentence, Sullivan said, Allen has a "motive to lie." He argued that Allen was testifying to protect his family and company from further federal charges.

In particular, he pointed to a statement Allen made that he was told by a mutual friend that Stevens was "just covering his ass" in asking for bills to cover the project's costs. The friend, Bob Persons, denied that assertion last week on the witness stand.

Sullivan said the statement was an "outright lie" that was inconsistent with letters Stevens wrote requesting bills. He said a letter Stevens wrote in 2002 showed his mindset and represented the "heart of the case." In it, the senator asked Allen for bills because he said he wanted to comply with the Senate's strict ethics rules on receiving gifts.

The defense says Stevens paid a fair price for the renovations, some $160,000, and disputes the government's argument that another $188,000 went unpaid. Sullivan continued to blame the senator's wife, Catherine, for any bills that were left unpaid, saying she was in charge of the project.

"The evidence is overwhelming that what they paid was fair," Sullivan said, referring to the senator and his wife, Catherine. "They believed they were paying their debts, and they didn’t think they were getting anything for free."