Legal News

When prosecutors lie...

By Glen Ashman

WASHINGTON - Faced with embarrassing revelations about withheld evidence, the Justice Department on Wednesday moved to reverse the conviction of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who lost his bid for re-election just days after a jury found that he had lied about gifts and home renovations.  Justice Department lawyers asked a judge to dismiss the indictment against Stevens and toss out his conviction - effectively killing their own courtroom victory with a shocking admission of misbehavior by prosecutors.  The Stevens case, the government's highest-profile attack on congressional corruption in recent years, was plagued by problems that continued to pile up even after a jury found him guilty. The last straw, apparently, was the failure of prosecutors to turn over notes of a crucial interview in which a witness contradicted a statement he made later under oath at trial... The prosecutors who handled the trial have been removed from the case and their conduct is under investigation.

Full post as published by It's (Barely) Legal on April 02, 2009 (boomark / email).