Posted on 04/05/2009 11:03:53 AM PDT by Maelstorm
As we told you on Wednesday, the Justice Department moved to dismiss former Sen. Ted Stevens’ indictment on Wednesday, effectively voiding his conviction from last October on seven counts of filing false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms. Click here for Wednesday’s LB post; here for Thursday’s WSJ article.
Nobody seems overly thrilled with the outcome, least of all Stevens’s attorney, Williams & Connolly’s Brendan Sullivan. “This jury verdict was obtained unlawfully,” read the statement penned by W&C. “The misconduct of government prosecutors, and one or more FBI agents, was stunning.” The statement went on to decry the “corrupt” conduct of attorneys and the FBI in the case, though it said Holder and the new prosecution team, along with Emmett Sullivan, the trial judge, were “heroes” for bringing the information to light.
In a news conference, Brendan Sullivan said this about the decision to go after Stevens: “It was a bad judgment to have done so in the first place. He’s a war hero. He served in the Senate for 40 years, and he was the target of prosecutors who wanted to enhance their own reputation.”
One thought struck us today, reading over all these comments — many contained in the Anchorage Daily News and the Washington Post — what happens now? Aside from asking for the resignation of current Alaska Senator Mark Begich, who beat Stevens in a November election that fell only weeks after Stevens’s conviction, could Stevens possibly sue the Justice Department?
For a little help on that question, we checked in earlier today wtih Daniel Richman, a criminal-law professor at Columbia.
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(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Using the Justice Department to win seats for the DemonRATS is despicable.
I would LOVE to see that!! Go TED GO! I don’t like him, but he really got a RAW DEAL.
I don’t know if he can, but he most definitely should!
Agreed. I do not like Stevens but he got screwed. There should be a rcall vote but I heard that might be hard. The election should be run again.
Just because the State had a crappy case and engaged in prosecutorial misconduct, one shouldn't believe that Stevens is "innocent" of all charges. He won't expose himself to the possibility of perjury with all that sworn testimony and the close examination it would bring.
“It doesn’t matter if he can win. He should do it to exact his ouch of flesh and stick it to the Democrats.”
Winner, winner. The proper mindset is expressed.
The attorney responsible for this was certainly corrupt. She came into the Justice Department under Bush I, was promoted by clinton, and then showed her hand under Bush II.
But I confess I am staggered by the fact that leftist worms in the Justice Department and FBI under President Bush were responsible for this miscarriage of justice, and now suddenly Obama and Holder are saying, “Oops! Mistakes were made!”
This article actually calls Holder, probably the most corrupt Attorney General since . . . well, since Janet Reno? Bobby Kennedy? . . . well anyway, they are calling Holder a hero!
Holder a hero! Holder an honest guy! Barf.
These corrupt manipulators do nothing without a reason. Why are they suddenly exonerating Stevens now? Presumably they know their Democrat senate seat is safe for the next six years, no matter the outrage.
Is this some kind of plan to manipulate Alaskan politics and undermine Sarah Palin, perhaps?
I really don’t understand this. But I think it needs a little thinking about, not just blind knee-jerk reaction. What are they up to? Why did they suddenly decide to lift their own rug and let the dirt fly out?
He should do it to exact his ouch of flesh and stick it to the Democrats.
Just so no one is misled, it is well to note: This travesty was perpetrated by the George Bush "Justice" Department, not the democrats.
I say why not nominate him to run for POTUS in 2012.
This should stir things up a bit.
I hope he does sue, I hope he sets up a defense fund to fight them all the way to the US Supreme Court.
NO but I am sure Cat Stevens can win, especially seeing the makeup of the White house the congress and the much of the courts......they might even make him Senator from Alaska!
He can sue, but will loose at the demurrer stage.
I don’t know if he can sue the government and win, but I suspect he can sue the “attorneys” in the Department of Justice because they had exculpatory evidence which they did not disclose which led to his conviction. He should also file complaints with every bar association to which those attorneys belong seeking the ultimate sanction—revocation of their licenses to practice law.
Using the Justice Department to win seats for the DemonRATS is despicable.
Holder doesn’t have any skin in the game so he certainly doesn’t mind playing the role of a Hero. If this debacle could be traced to him I guarantee you he certainly would not draw attention to it by making a statement about corrupt conduct! He certainly doesn’t care if Stevens sues with the amount of money flying freely out the windows of the government either and it’s more trouble to hassle Steven then to dismiss him and let everyone go on their merry way. The Democrats got the seat and that is all they wanted.
In addition to the corrupt DOJ actions, the Dems poured $5.5 Million into attack ads.
Mark Begich is a polition of the first stripe - bought and paid for. AS for the case, the FBI had less than nothing.
The ‘star’ witness was turned by the Feds after the FedGov threated to put his children in prision, the ‘star’ witness had over $70 miillion in the balance, the ‘star’ witness was up for drug and child protitution/sex with underage girls (13 and 14 YO) charges that the FedGov has managed to bury.
Witnesses that claim the FedGov figues for work o the home in GIrdwood are BS were never heard. THe crap about the auto swap was thown out almost the instant the “trial” started.....
The REAL lesson here is - if these corrupt asshats (Bozos is too nice a word) cn bring down the most powerful Senator in the US, what hope in hell to YOU have if they decide to go after you?
Martha S. went ot prision for ‘lying’ about a crimne she was never charged with — and yet an admitted tax cheat sits as the Sec of Treasury...and other admitted tax cheats sit on Cabinet posts.
Ya, the US I knew and defended for decades is all but gone.
The next election cycle is going to be a popcorn fest.
Can Al Gore sue the government and win? He won the popular vote, and a final count of the Florida popular vote showed that he would have won that state, as well, if the recount hadn’t been stopped. The final Florida count came out after Bush had been sworn in and was serving however, so it was assumed to not really matter.
Should Gore have sued? Or demanded a revote? And that was for the Presidency, not a Senate seat.
Perhaps Tom Delay can join in that suit too.
Given the number of contempt citations issued by Judge Sullivan, and the removal of the entire prosecution team after numerous acts of misconduct, I think it's possible.
But more than that, I want to see those prosecutors fired, prosecuted, and disbarred. The same goes for the FBI agent that withheld and falsified evidence.
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