Ted Stevens Ridiculousness - New Record? (and conviction discussion) - Page 4 - Politics and Economics

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Ted Stevens Ridiculousness - New Record? (and conviction discussion)

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10-31-2008 , 03:17 PM

#76

emmpee

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Ted Stevens at AK senatorial debate: "I have not been convicted of anything"

Article doesn't have opponent's reaction, but I imagine it's:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Begich

wat

04-01-2009 , 03:44 PM

#77

ikestoys

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So apparently some ****ed up **** has gone on.

Prosecutors request to dismiss federal corruption conviction and all charges to be dropped.

04-01-2009 , 03:53 PM

#78

TheQuietAnarchist

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Ah the sweet smell of corruption in the morning.

04-01-2009 , 03:54 PM

#79

Riverman

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Just put Pat Fitzgerald in charge of every high profile corruption case please.

This is pretty shocking to me. DOJ jobs are pretty hard to get, and the people I know that have gotten them are super-smart, honest types. WTF.

04-01-2009 , 04:00 PM

#80

adanthar

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Turns out it's a good dismissal. The judge cited prosecutors for contempt of court for failing to provide critical evidence to the defense in the middle of the trial. For reference, a judge has done that that to federal prosecutors two times in the last 30 years. They also hid a critical witness from the defense crossexam after having him testify by saying he was sick and flying him back to Alaska.

He's still guilty, but the prosecution was so bad it probably tainted the case past repair

04-01-2009 , 04:04 PM

#81

ikestoys

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Any possibility of a political role playing into the bad prosecution? It was just before an election. Or does never pass up a chance to blame stupidity apply here?

04-01-2009 , 04:11 PM

#82

adanthar

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the latter. AUSA's don't screw up prosecutions that badly on purpose...it kinda kills otherwise top notch career prospects.

04-01-2009 , 04:20 PM

#83

Wynton

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Quote:

Originally Posted by adanthar

It's rare enough for the Justice Dept to acknowledge misconduct requiring a new trial. But to conclude, as they have, that the entire case should be dropped is even more remarkable.

I suspect that the withheld evidence must actually cast serious doubt upon the proof of guilt.

04-01-2009 , 04:23 PM

#84

ikestoys

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Quote:

Originally Posted by adanthar

the latter. AUSA's don't screw up prosecutions that badly on purpose...it kinda kills otherwise top notch career prospects.

I don't really know too much about all of this, but it seems quite fishy.

Not to say that I think stevens is clean or that him being in the senate would be a good thing somehow, just that it seems fishy.

04-01-2009 , 04:33 PM

#85

Wynton

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Quote:

Originally Posted by ikestoys

Not sure what you are doubting here. Based upon the news reports, it sounds like the prosecutors intentionally withheld evidence. Federal prosecutors do this frequently, without any political motive other than winning the case. They do it often because the misconduct can easily go undetected, and judges generally don't punish them for it. I'm sure these guys thought they would get away with it.

04-01-2009 , 05:25 PM

#86

TheQuietAnarchist

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Does the withheld evidence become public knowledge at some nearby point?

04-01-2009 , 05:40 PM

#87

adios

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Quote:

Originally Posted by adanthar

....
He's still guilty, but the prosecution was so bad it probably tainted the case past repair

Yep that's why they withheld the evidence ldo.

04-01-2009 , 07:18 PM

#88

AlbertoKnox

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 3,676

Oh, man this is suck a shock. Some people in government screwed up resulting in someone else in gov not being punished for crimes. I can't believe it, does this make the government invalid now?

04-01-2009 , 08:15 PM

#89

Wynton

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Quote:

Originally Posted by xorbie

Does the withheld evidence become public knowledge at some nearby point?

If the withheld evidence was presented to the court in any kind of motion or submission, then it is probably public right now. This is not the kind of thing one would ordinarily expect to be sealed.

On the other hand, if the feds have decided to dismiss on their own initiative, based upon their own review of materials in their possession, they do not necessarily have to reveal those materials to anyone (though the court could theoretically demand that they do so). Even then, though, one can always make a Freedom of Information request later.

04-07-2009 , 03:32 PM

#90

MrWookie

Don't Call Me Meredith

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 94,159

Conviction officially thrown out.

Apparently it's easy to have a conviction thrown out if the prosecution is a series of boobs. A courtroom is not a big truck. You can't just dump something on it.

04-07-2009 , 03:42 PM

#91

mosdef

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWookie

Conviction officially thrown out.

Apparently it's easy to have a conviction thrown out if the prosecution is a series of boobs. A courtroom is not a big truck. You can't just dump something on it.

"Stevens, 85, who narrowly lost reelection eight days after being found guilty of seven counts of lying on financial disclosure forms, said the actions of prosecutors had "nearly destroyed" his faith in the criminal justice system."

Yes, now that we know that transparently guilty people can get off because of incompetence by the prosecutor our faith is restored!

04-07-2009 , 03:45 PM

#92

DVaut1

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If you don't understand, those courtrooms can be filled and if they are filled, when the prosecution puts your case in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that courtroom enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.

04-07-2009 , 03:50 PM

#93

Money2Burn

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Could this have any reprocussisons for the election he lost?

04-07-2009 , 03:52 PM

#94

iron81

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Money2Burn

Could this have any reprocussisons for the election he lost?

It will help if he decides to run again in 6 years. Some Republicans are calling for Begich to step down, but he loled at that.

04-07-2009 , 03:56 PM

#95

Money2Burn

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mosdef

I didn't follow this case closely, but after reading the article it makes it seem that he wasn't transparently guilty?

04-07-2009 , 04:06 PM

#96

DVaut1

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Money2Burn

Could this have any reprocussisons for the election he lost?

Quote:

Originally Posted by iron81

It will help if he decides to run again in 6 years. Some Republicans are calling for Begich to step down, but he loled at that.

I know Thurmond ran when he was 93, but Steven's is going to be 91 in 2014, I'd be really surprised if he ran again.

04-08-2009 , 10:20 AM

#97

adios

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWookie

Conviction officially thrown out.

Apparently it's easy to have a conviction thrown out if the prosecution is a series of boobs. A courtroom is not a big truck. You can't just dump something on it.

I don't think this is a matter of simple incompetance. Criminal contempt charges could come down. It's clear that prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence in discovery. It's irratating to me to read stuff like the prosecuters were the equivalent of the 3 stooges when in reality the actions were akin to actions of prosecuters in a police state. Yeah prosecuters had a great case if you throw out all the exculpatory evidence.

04-08-2009 , 11:22 AM

#98

iron81

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Quote:

Originally Posted by adios

Yeah prosecuters had a great case if you throw out all the exculpatory evidence.

Does anyone know what the exculpatory evidence was?

04-08-2009 , 12:18 PM

#99

adios

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Quote:

Originally Posted by iron81

Does anyone know what the exculpatory evidence was?

Judge lists what he says federal prosecutors did wrong

A decent summary. I read another article yesterday that I'm too lazy to dig up going into more detail about some of the evidence prosecuters withheld. I think it was at the Politico web site but not sure.

04-08-2009 , 02:42 PM

#100

iron81

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Well, based on the article, I'm convinced that if none of that had happened, the jury still would have convicted Stevens. However, the verdict should have been tossed because 1. The conduct was outrageous and 2. It represents only the misconduct that we know about.

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