Prosecutorial Misconduct in the Ted Stevens Case

[freeradical]

We're sorry about the conviction, and it's too bad you lost your Senate seat.

Ooops, accidents and mistakes happen.

Sorry...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/us/pol....html?_r=1&hp

[Rick-o]

So he wasn't guilty of those crimes?

[mattkime]

see anywhere where it says he's innocent?

(aside from him and his lawyer.)

[JoeH]

Well, the prosecution was started under the Bush administration. It is Obama's appointee who has decided based on the misconduct he is getting reports on, to drop the case from further prosecution. Just waiting for the rightwing-nuts to come out saying this proves he will be "soft" on crime.

[Doc]

So, with overwhelming evidence that the man took bribes, the major distinction between his guilt and vindication is that the value of one bribe might have been $80k and not $250k and the prosecutor blew the case because he failed to share that lesser figure with the defense.

I think we should all be pleased that he lost the election.

Scum is scum, even if it comes at bargain-basement prices.

[mick e]

This was a Gonzo crew. Holder had to come in and clean up their dogshit.

Get used to it, because there will be more.

[Don Kiyoti]

Just watched Nina Totenberg talk about this on the News Hour.

This shows me that Holder is quite serious about correcting the abuses that have been going on at Justice. This doesn't mean Stevens was not guilty as charged - clearly he was. But he did not get a fair trial and so this is the correct result. That doesn't mean he should get his seat back, however. He lost that election. His defense team asked for an accelerated trial schedule and they got it. As Nina Totenberg pointed out, that's asking for mistakes and errors. She also pointed out that the prosecutorial team's failure to disclose evidence was either the result of incompetence or malice or both. Either way, there are some ruined careers now.

[davester]

Don Kiyoti wrote: ...Either way, there are some ruined careers now.

...and either way, the guilty as all hell Ted Stevens gets to walk.

So, freeradical, is it your philosophy that republicans should escape all convictions, even when they are completely guilty?

[Don Kiyoti]

...and either way, the guilty as all hell Ted Stevens gets to walk.


But he doesn't get to walk back into the Senate. That and his age were considerations in the decision not to re-file the charges.

[RgrF]

Prosecutors have been known to cross a line with intent when asked to go after a locally popular and powerful political figure. The result is that later on down the road out of the glare of klieg lights and nightly news cameras convictions get reversed while those self same former prosecutors go on to long exceptionally prosperous careers in the private sector.

It's not a cynical take, it's just the way things can be made to work in some circumstances. This would appear to be one of those circumstances.