[Vision2020] Stevens Guilty: 'It's not over yet,' he says

[Tom Hansen]

>From the Anchorage daily News at:

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/stevens/story/569134.html

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Stevens guilty: 'It's not over yet,' he says

By ERIKA BOLSTAD and RICHARD MAUER
Anchorage Daily News

(10/27/08 20:51:00) 
WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Monday convicted U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens on 
all seven counts of lying on his financial disclosures, a crippling blow 
not just to his election chances next week but to his legacy as Alaska’s 
longest serving and most accomplished living politician.

Stevens also risks jail time. The seven felonies each carry a penalty of 
five years in prison, though it’s unlikely a significant prison sentence, 
if any, would be imposed on an 84-year-old, first-time offender with a 
long record of public service and a longer list of character references.

"It’s not over yet!" Stevens said angrily to his wife as he walked from 
the courtroom Monday afternoon.

"You’ve got that right," Catherine Stevens replied as she reached for him 
through the crowd of supporters rushing past reporters for the door.

"Not over yet," Stevens said.

Neither he nor his lawyers talked to reporters as he left the courthouse 
and climbed into a waiting white van amid a throng of cameras.

He later issued a statement maintaining his innocence and saying he will 
continue to fight the charges and accusing prosecutors of misconduct. He 
remains a candidate for office, he said. Neither his Senate office nor his 
campaign responded to an e-mail request for an interview.

Stevens is by far the highest profile defendant among nine legislators, 
businessmen, lobbyists and an state administration official to have been 
convicted in the massive FBI investigation of corruption in Alaska. Two 
other legislators await trial in Anchorage.

"This investigation continues, as does our commitment to holding elected 
officials accountable when they violate our laws," said Acting Assistant 
Attorney General Matt Friedrich, reading a statement on the courthouse 
steps after the verdict.

Among those still under investigation are Stevens’ son Ben, a former 
president of the Alaska senate, and U.S. Rep. Don Young, who’s standing 
for election Tuesday with Stevens.

Stevens’ defense team has until Dec. 5 to file motions for a new trial and 
other relief from Judge Emmet Sullivan, who set a hearing date of Feb. 25. 
Sullivan indefinitely postponed sentencing.

UNREPORTED GIFTS

In convicting Stevens, the jury had to unanimously decide he lied on his 
financial disclosure by not reporting gifts and benefits.

Though the jurors heard character witnesses for Stevens, including former 
Secretary of State Colin Powell, none started out with the kind of 
knowledge of Stevens that most Alaskans could recite: his long history of 
securing federal money for his homestate, of supporting Alaska’s military 
bases and Native institutions, his connections to fisheries and the trans-
Alaska pipeline, or that "Ted Stevens" is part of the name of the biggest 
international airport in Alaska, the marine research center in Juneau and 
the science education center in Kenai.

The judge relayed a message from the jurors that they would not consent to 
interviews. Their identities were never disclosed in open court and they 
left the courthouse while Sullivan’s court was still in session after the 
verdict.

The Stevenses were the two final witnesses in a trial that began with jury 
selection on Sept. 22. Fifty other witnesses testified, many of them from 
the now defunct oil-field service company Veco. They told of being 
directed to perform renovations and repairs on Stevens’ official residence 
in Girdwood, turning the modest green A-frame with a loft into a five-
bedroom retreat with a new garage and kitchen.

In all, the government said Veco and its chief executive, Bill Allen, 
provided Stevens with some $250,000 in services, gifts, furnishings and 
other benefits. Two other friends of Stevens — Bob Penney, the real estate 
developer and sport fish advocate, and Bob Persons, the owner of 
Girdwood’s Double Musky restaurant — also provided gifts of a $1,000 dog, 
a $3,200 stained glass window and a $2,700 chair that Stevens didn’t 
disclose, according to evidence in the case.

Stevens and his defense challenged those dollar values on multiple fronts. 
Stevens said he didn’t know that Veco provided a dime’s worth of work, and 
he disputed that any of the gifts were actually his to own, even though 
they were in his homes in Girdwood and Washington — often for years.

But Senate rules provide a low threshold for reporting gifts — from $260 
in 2000 to $305 in 2006 — making it easier for the jury to decide than it 
might have been if the Senate values were much higher.

For instance, the jury didn’t have to determine to the penny the validity 
of Veco’s accounting that the house renovations cost the company $82,000 
in 2000 and another $110,000 in 2001. Those were the numbers initially 
entered into evidence early in the trial, but were later shown to be 
significantly flawed even before the government rested its case.

Whatever the actual number was for the renovations, the evidence was 
overwhelming it was more than $260.

Under the law, any gift over the threshold amount had to be listed. Yet 
Stevens’ forms never showed anything from Veco, Allen, Penney or Persons.

‘NOT A TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR’

The jury began deliberations for the day about 9:30 a.m. It was the start 
of the third day of deliberations for all but Juror 11, an alternate who 
had just taken the place of another juror who left to attend her father’s 
funeral in California. The judge instructed the jury that they would have 
to restart their deliberations to accommodate their newest member, a 
prolific note-taker during the trial who runs a Web site for her church.

Late morning, the jury sent out a note with a "significant question." It 
turned out they had discovered an error in the indictment that had gotten 
though the prosecution team, the grand jury, two months of pre-trial 
wrangling by both sides and a month’s worth of trial. None of the 25 or so 
journalists regularly covering the case noticed it, either.

The issue involved Count 2 and its reference to the fifth set of 
checkboxes on the front page of Stevens’ 2001 report. It was there that 
Stevens was supposed to check whether he received more than $260 in 
reportable gifts that year.

The indictment said Stevens checked "No." But the jury discovered from 
looking at the actual disclosure that Stevens checked "Yes."

They wanted to know how to deal with that discrepancy.

With the jury waiting in their room for an answer, the embarrassed 
prosecution team said the error in the indictment could be considered a 
typo, but in any case wasn’t significant. The gift Stevens listed in his 
back-up schedule was a $1,100 gold coin struck to commemorate his honorary 
chairmanship of the Special Olympics winter games in Anchorage that year. 
There was nothing in the schedule from Veco, Allen, Persons or Penney, as 
charged in the indictment.

The defense said that if the jury found there was no proof that Stevens 
had checked "No," that might be reason enough for a not guilty verdict.

The judge decided to send an instruction to the jury that the indictment 
is not evidence — only the disclosure document itself was. The implication 
was that the jury could ignore the error.

As for the prosecution, Sullivan was displeased.

"Presumably someone reads these before they are submitted on the docket — 
it’s not a typographical error," he said.

On the other hand, he had high praise for the sharp-eyed jury. By then, 
the jurors were taking lunch. Unknown to anyone in the courtroom, they 
were also nearing a verdict.

‘GUILTY’

Shortly after 3 p.m. Washington time (11 a.m. in Alaska), the jury 
foreman, a balding, middle-aged man who works for a drug rehabilitation 
agency, handed another note to the marshal guarding the door. As Stevens, 
his lawyers, prosecutors and reporters responded to the summons from court 
officials, there was no direct word about what the note said. Then Shelton 
Snook, the court administrator, told reporters that no one would be 
allowed to dash from the courtroom, movie style, until the judge declared 
a recess. The marshal ordered everyone to leave their cell phones and 
Blackberrys outside the courtroom.

At 3:53 p.m., the jury walked in the courtroom door. Everyone in the room 
stood. The only sound was from people settling back into their seats. The 
jurors looked toward the judge and each other. None appeared to steal a 
glance at Stevens or his wife in the front row of the spectator benches.

If they had, they would have seen two grim faces. Stevens’ face was 
slightly flushed, his wife pale.

Brenda Morris, the lead prosecutor, touched her fingers together and 
closed her eyes, like she was meditating. Prosecutors Joe Bottini and 
Nicholas Marsh and FBI agent Mary Beth Kepner, the others at Morris’ 
table, held pens in their hands, ready to scrawl on legal pads.

"I will take the verdict," Sullivan told the foreman.

The foreman passed a sealed manila envelope to the marshal, who carried it 
to the judge. Sullivan ripped open the flap, checked the form to make sure 
it was complete, then put it back in the envelope. He passed the envelope 
back to the marshal, who returned it to the foreman.

Sullivan gave no hint of the verdict.

The foreman grabbed a microphone and stood. The only others on their feet 
where the three marshals guarding the back door.

"As to count one, what is the verdict of the jury?"

In a deep baritone, the foreman replied, "Guilty."

Not a whisper moved through the court. Stevens didn’t move.

Count two, asked the judge?

"Guilty," said the foreman.

The gray-haired Brendan Sullivan, Stevens’ lead defense attorney, put his 
arm around Stevens’ shoulder.

Count three?

"Guilty," said the foreman.

Stevens closed his eyes.

Count four?

"Guilty."

Catherine Stevens’ lips were quivering. Stevens’ daughter Beth, who 
attended every minute of the trial, looked at her feet.

Count five?

"Guilty."

Stevens shook his head from side to side. Morris was stoned face. Bottini, 
Marsh and Kepner wrote furiously and showed no reaction. .

And so it went for the next two verdicts. Another defense attorney, Robert 
Cary, requested that the jurors all be polled as to whether they agreed to 
the verdict, a common request of a losing side in court.

Each juror spoke. The verdict was unchanged.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


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