Legal News

Judge Dismisses Stevens Charges, Launches Criminal Investigation

By Ashby Jones

As of just about an hour ago, Ted Stevens is a free man. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., Emmet Sullivan (pictured), has granted the request of prosecutors and dismissed the corruption charges filed against the former Alaska senator.

In so doing, Sullivan has opened a criminal investigation into the prosecutors who mishandled the case. Sullivan called the misconduct the most serious he has ever seen in nearly 25 years on the bench and has appointed Henry Schulke as a special prosecutor to investigate the Justice Department team for possible criminal contempt charges. Click here for the AP story.

Stevens was convicted of lying on Senate financial forms about gifts he received from wealthy friends. But Attorney General Eric Holder asked that the case be dismissed, saying Stevens did not receive a fair trial, largely because prosecutors failed to hand to the defense lawyers possibly exculpatory material, in violation of procedural rules.

Judge Sullivan used the occasion to do a little soapboxing. He said he has seen a troubling trend of prosecutors withholding evidence in cases against people ranging from Guantanamo Bay detainees to public officials such as Stevens. He called on judges nationwide to issue formal orders in all criminal cases requiring that prosecutors turn over evidence to defendants.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 07, 2009 (boomark / email).