Criminal Justice
No Mistrial for Senator Stevens
Posted Oct 3, 2008, 04:32 am CST
By Edward A. Adams
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. Thursday refused to declare a mistrial in the corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, despite a finding that prosecutors failed to turn over potentially exculpatory information to the defense.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan took prosecutors to the woodshed, saying "the court has no confidence in the government's ability" to meet its obligations under Brady v. Maryland, according to the Washington Post. He ordered government lawyers to provide the defense with copies of all witness interviews.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brenda Morris told the court yesterday that "we admit we made a gross error, your honor.… But there is no harm to the defendant."
"I want an answer," the judge told her. "How does the court have any confidence that the public integrity section has any integrity?"
Stevens, 84, is charged with failing to disclose that a campaign contributor extensively renovated Stevens' Alaska home without charging him for all of the work.