Alaska House wants feds to apologize to Stevens

[April 09, 2009]  JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska lawmakers want the U.S. government to apologize to former Sen. Ted Stevens, whose corruption conviction was dismissed this week by a federal judge.

Stevens was convicted by a federal jury of lying on Senate disclosure forms for not revealing gifts. The judge who threw out the conviction on Tuesday also ordered a criminal investigation into prosecutors who worked on the case.

The Alaska House passed a resolution Wednesday calling for the apology to Stevens, who was once the Senate's longest-serving Republican. He lost his seat in November to Democrat Mark Begich just days after the jury conviction.

The resolution will be sent to President Barack Obama. It calls for the government to give Stevens permission to sue the Justice Department for redress.

[Associated Press]

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