Stevens asks for conviction to be dismissed

[December 23, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens on Monday called for his conviction on corruption charges to be thrown out after an FBI agent bitterly complained about some Justice Department tactics during the trial, including not turning over evidence and an "inappropriate relationship" between a government representative and the prosecutor's star witness.

"A whistleblower complaint submitted by a special agent with the FBI now confirms what the defense has long believed and alleged: the government cheated and lied in order to obtain a verdict against Sen. Ted Stevens," Stevens lawyer Robert Cary said in court papers.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is expected to hold a hearing in early January on some of Stevens' charges against the Justice Department team that convicted him.

"We will continue to litigate in the court all matters, including these allegations, related to the jury's conviction of Senator Ted Stevens," Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said.

The Senate's longest serving Republican was convicted in November on seven counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure documents to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from Alaska millionaire Bill Allen.

Stevens lost his Senate seat after the conviction.

In a heavily redacted letter, an FBI agent whose name has been blacked out complained bitterly about prosecution tactics during the investigation and conviction of Stevens, including someone's inappropriate relationship with Allen, who testified against the senator.

Someone connected with the prosecution met with Allen in a hotel room in Washington, D.C., with the FBI agent telling them not to do it again. The person "ignored me," the agent said.

A person also "wore" something for Allen during his testimony against Stevens, with the person saying "it was a surprise/present for Allen," the agent said.

The FBI agent, who said in the document that they have requested protection from retaliation, also said there may be evidence that was never revealed during the trial. "There is a large amount of records currently in the Squad 4/5 conference room that the FBI has had in its custody for some time that do not appear to be entered into evidence," the agent said.

The FBI also did not tell a judge about some of the searches it did, the agent said.

The agent discovered an "affidavit (that) did not reference the fact that the FBI had performed one or more searches," the agent said. Someone connected with the prosecution told the agent "not to worry about it, that it was too late to change it, and that it was irrelevant and would not have changed the fact the judge signed the affidavit," the agent said.

A government representative also "accepted multiple things of value from sources," "had inappropriate relationships/communication with members of the media," purposefully sent a witness back to Alaska even though he had been subpoenaed by Stevens, did not turn over to the judge and defense evidence which was then used at trial, and tried to hide information from Stevens's lawyers, the agent said.

"There was many serious problems I encountered in the recent trial of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens that frustrated me," the FBI agent said.

Given all that, Sullivan should either throw the conviction out or give Stevens a new trial, Cary said.

"It is now clear that the government's prosecution of Sen. Stevens lacked integrity," Cary said. "A federal election has been irreversibly affected. It is too late to change that. But it is not too late to impose a sanction that lets the government know that this kind of conduct will not be tolerated in the future."

[Associated Press; By JESSE J. HOLLAND]

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