Miscellaneous

Embarassing Typo

By Anne Skove, Esq.

As if the Stevens jury hadn't caused enough trouble, now we hear that the twelve (eleven old plus one new) found an error in the indictment.

Prosecutors say Stevens checked "no" when asked if he had received any gifts. This fact appears in the indictment along with the other charges.

The jury says he checked "yes." Maybe it pays to start from square one, as this jury did today when a non-compliant juror was replaced with an alternate. Perhaps the error would not have been found were it not for these re-deliberations.

Now what?

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan reportedly asked, "presumably somebody reads these indictments before they return them?" Ah, the glamorous life of a federal judge!

Judge Sullivan rejected the DOJ's claim that this constituted a mere typo. He has asked jurors to concentrate on the evidence rather than the indictment.

This course of action might work for the rest of this beleaguered trial, but who knows what will happen on appeal. Stay tuned...

Why does all the fun happen in DC?!

See Jury Finds Mistake in Ted Stevens Indictment, Jesse J. Holland, AP (October 27, 2008), and Alternate Juror Joins Stevens Panel; Deliberations Resume, Erika Bolstad, McClatchy Newspapers/Miami Herald (October 27, 2008).

The DOJ has made documents in U.S. v. Theodore F. Stevens available online. (Obama's birth certificate somehow did not make it into the exhibits, go figure.)

UPDATE: Convicted on all counts.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on October 27, 2008 (boomark / email).