By Brent Kendall Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Outgoing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens asked a federal judge Friday to give him a new trial on charges that he accepted and concealed tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from a now-disgraced oil-services executive and others.
The longtime Republican senator, a legend in Alaska politics, was convicted Oct. 27 of seven counts of lying on his Senate financial disclosure forms to hide the gifts.
Shortly after his conviction, Stevens narrowly lost his Senate reelection bid to Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage.
In a 78-page court filing, Stevens' lawyers said Friday that a long list of legal errors infected the senator's trial, particularly several instances of alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
"The government's repeated and intentional misconduct violated the senator's constitutional rights and severely prejudiced him at trial," Stevens' lawyers wrote. "There can be no confidence in the verdict, and a new trial is warranted."
Prosecutors got into hot water several times with U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan during the four-week trial, which took place in a Washington courtroom just blocks from the Capitol.
The judge said prosecutors on multiple occasions violated their legal duty to alert Stevens that they possessed evidence that could benefit the senator. Sullivan also said prosecutors introduced other evidence they knew to be false.
In another dust-up, Sullivan chided the prosecution for sending one of its witnesses back to Alaska without telling defense lawyers, who said the witness later informed them of facts that undermined the government's case. The witness never testified.
Prosecutors apologized for their missteps, calling them honest mistakes.
Though he criticized the prosecution, Sullivan rejected multiple requests by Stevens to declare a mistrial or have the charges dismissed.
Prosecutors said Stevens, 85, accepted and concealed more than $250,000 in gifts, including extensive home renovations, furniture and a gas grill. The government said most gifts came from one-time Stevens confidant Bill Allen, the former chief executive of Veco Corp., a now-defunct Alaska oil services company. Allen was the government's star witness against Stevens. In a separate case, Allen pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska public officials, but not Stevens.
Sullivan is scheduled to consider Stevens' request for a new trial at a Jan. 15 court hearing.
Stevens hasn't yet been sentenced. If the judge leaves the jury verdict in place, Stevens isn't expected to receive much jail time, if at all.
The government is due to respond to Stevens' request for a new trial later this month.
-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=B8Ivi3kcr48MG8t2c5SWHw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 05, 2008 17:13 ET (22:13 GMT)

Publié le 05 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones