Legal News

Case Might Be ?All About Alaska,? But Judge Keeps Stevens Trial in D.C.

By Dan Slater

Aside from mentioning the indictment last month, we’ve steered away from the case of Ted Stevens, the Republican senator from Alaska who’s charged with failing to report his acceptance of more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from executives of a now defunct Alaska oil-services company. But now there’s been a decision on Stevens’ change of venue motion, and we think that civ pro buffs might get a kick out of it.

According to the WaPo, Stevens’ lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, the Williams & Connolly big wig who’s also repping former Bear fund manager Ralph Cioffi, said at the hearing yesterday: “It’s all about Alaska. It all happened in Alaska.” In court documents and at the hearing, Sullivan (Georgetown, Georgetown law) argued that a trial in Alaska would be more fair to Stevens and less of a burden on witnesses and the court. Sullivan & Co. noted that most of the allegations in the indictment focus on renovations to Stevens’s house in Girdwood, Alaska.

But U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said pictures of the house would suffice. He sided with Justice Department lawyers in ruling that moving the trial to a federal court in Alaska would cause unneeded “delay and additional expense.” The DOJ lawyers argued that many of the events cited in the indictment, including the filing of the financial disclosure statements, occurred in Washington. Stevens has a home here, they said, which will reduce the difficulty he will face standing trial.

The real issue seems to be Stevens’ re-election bid in November. At 84 years-old, he’s repped Alaska in the Senate for 40 years, making him the longest-serving Republican senator ever, and he’d like to keep the streak going. A trial in Alaska would make it easier for Stevens to conduct his trial by day, and his campaign for reelection by night. Judge Sullivan said he’d consider holding court only four days a week so that Stevens could return to Alaska on the weekends. Tough commute.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 21, 2008 (boomark / email).