Legal News

He?s Baaaaack! Stevens?s Legal Team Accuses Feds of Suborning Perjury

By Ashby Jones

It was over. We’d moved on. After Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was convicted of seven felony perjury charges, then he lost his re-election bid, we thought never again would we spill pixels on the man. (Click here for a slew of recent blog posts on the trial.)

But in light of this WaPo story, we were forced back to the well. According to the WaPo story, a witness in the Stevens’s corruption trial last week told a federal judge that he received extensive help from prosecutors prior to taking the stand and would have testified differently had he not been given the assistance. The witness also said he had an agreement with the government that gave him immunity from prosecution in the case. During the trial, he told the jury that no formal deal existed.

“I would not have given the same testimony” without the help or the agreement, wrote the witness, David Anderson.

Stevens’s attorneys disclosed the allegations in a motion last week asking to question Anderson and others and accusing the government of “suborning perjury and making intentionally false statements” tied to Anderson’s testimony. Stevens’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who presided over the case, to schedule a hearing into the matter.

In a court filing later yesterday, federal prosecutors said Anderson’s allegations were false.

Stevens was convicted last month of seven felony counts of lying on financial disclosure forms to hide about $250,000 in gifts and free renovations to his house in Girdwood, Alaska. Stevens accepted much of the largess from the oil services firm Veco and its top executive, Bill Allen, prosecutors say.

Anderson is the nephew of Bill Allen, the top executive of oil-services firm Veco. He testified that he performed hundreds of hours of labor on Stevens’s house. In a letter dated Nov. 15 and sent to Sullivan, the prosecutors and defense attorneys, Anderson wrote that he wanted “to clarify” his testimony.

Stevens, 85, who narrowly lost his Senate reelection bid, is expected to file motions in coming weeks to have his conviction thrown out. No sentencing date has been set.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 24, 2008 (boomark / email).