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Prosecutorial misconduct or just standard operating procedures in Senator Stevens' prosecution?

By Douglas A. Berman

As previously noted in this post, right after Senator Ted Stevens was convicted earlier this week on seven felony counts of lying on his Senate disclosure forms, his lawyer Brendan Sullivan sent this letter of complaint to Attorney General Michael Mukasey detailing purported incidents of prosecutorial misconduct in Stevens' prosecution.  The letter is a fascinating read, and some of the allegations are very troubling (such as the assertion that federal prosecutors knowingly presented false testimony).  But one allegation really stood out because it calls "misconduct" some behavior I have long considered just standard prosecutorial operating procedures. Specifically, the letter's last major allegation of a "serious constitutional violation" concerns the "prosecution's use of coercive promises and extravagant financial incentives to Mr...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on November 01, 2008 (boomark / email).