Update: (TL)No verdict today after four hours of deliberations.

Ted Stevens' fate is now in the hands of the jury.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan instructed the jury for about 70 minutes on Wednesday, then dismissed the four alternate jurors.

The government's best evidence (apart from a recorded conversation in which Stevens mentions "a little jail time" as the worst outcome of the government's investigation) may have come from Senator Stevens' mouth during his cross-examination. [more ...]

Senator Ted Stevens took the stand today in his criminal trial. He testified that he pays his bills when he knows about them, that he intended to pay for his home renovations, and that if he neglected to pay it's only because he's a busy senator working a long distance from his Alaskan home. And besides, he left it to his wife to handle the project, so blame her if something got screwed up. He didn't disclose gifts, including the renovations, that were paid for by his friend Bill Allen because he didn't think Allen had given him any gifts.

"What goes on in the house is Catherine's business. What goes on outside is my business," Stevens testified. He told jurors he never asked for some of the key features of the renovation project, such as a balcony and steel staircase. He said he didn't know anything about them until he saw the completed project.

As for Allen, who "testified that Stevens knew he wasn't getting billed for everything and just wanted invoices to protect himself," Stevens claims Allen told "an absolute lie." Stevens will be cross-examined this afternoon.

This was not meant to be the indictment of the Senate that it seems to be:

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch called Sen. Ted Stevens ... one of the Senate's greatest minds during testimony at the Alaska senator's corruption trial.

You'll recall that Stevens is the genius who said this:

"I just the other day got -- an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially... And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of tubes."

The government's bungling of the Ted Stevens prosecution hasn't persuaded the judge to grant a mistrial, but the remedy he selected may help Stevens obtain an acquittal. The prosecution's missteps are recounted here and here.

Judge Sullivan delivered a severe scolding to the prosecution and said he would bar the government from using two categories of evidence central to its case. Perhaps more important, he said he would tell the jury on Thursday that he was excluding some of the prosecution’s evidence because “the government presented evidence the government knew was not true,” an instruction that is likely to undermine the credibility of the prosecution.

The jury isn't likely to overlook such a stinging rebuke. Once the judge accuses the prosecution of knowingly presenting false evidence, the jury might be so offended that it won't believe any of the legitimate evidence the government managed to gather.

[more ...]

For the second time, the federal prosecutors in Senator Ted Stevens' corruption trial have been chastised for withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense. The first instance is discussed in this post.

This time prosecutors failed to disclose that prosecution witness Bill Allen told the government that "he believed Stevens would have paid for the renovations if Allen had ever billed him." Allen's belief isn't all that important, given Allen's testimony that the person Stevens tasked with talking to Allen about payment told Allen to ignore Stevens' requests to be billed. Still, it's the kind of evidence the government must reveal, and the government's continuing inability to play by the rules has seriously aggravated the judge:

U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the powerful 40-year senator "would not be getting a fair trial if it were up to the government."

That's pretty much always true, but it's nice of a judge to notice. [more ...]

Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens would be an entertaining caricature if he were not actually a senator. His trial is suddenly beset with unexpected drama. What did you expect?

Prosecution witness Rocky Williams, "a construction foreman who was involved in renovations on Stevens’s home," contacted defense lawyers over the weekend and gave them critical evidence that the prosecution had not revealed.

Defense lawyers said Williams told them he spent much less time working on Stevens’s home than Veco’s accounting records indicate. That evidence, they said, “gravely undercuts” the government’s argument that Veco spent $188,000 of its own money on Stevens’s house.

[more...]

It's been awhile since TalkLeft took note of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the former CIA officer who accepted lavish gifts from defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who in turn bribed former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. After Foggo and Wilkes were indicted, Wilkes took his case to trial and lost. (Perhaps the jury was swayed by the hookers who testified against him.) Wilkes was sentenced to 12 years. Cunningham entered a guilty plea and earned an 8 year sentence. For her trouble in pursuing the investigation, San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam was fired.

Today Foggo pled guilty to wire fraud.

As part of the plea, prosecutors dropped 27 other counts against him and agreed to seek a prison term no longer than three years and a month.... The plea comes three weeks after prosecutors complained that Foggo was threatening to expose the cover of practically every agent with whom he had contact as part of his defense.

Foggo is scheduled to be sentenced on January 8.

Congressional-aide-turned-lobbyist Kevin Ring has been indicted for his alleged role in Jack Abramoff's scheme to trade financial benefits for political favors. Ring worked as an aide for Rep. John Doolittle, who is not seeking reelection.

Authorities accused Ring of arranging campaign contributions for Doolittle ... and of lying to investigators hired by Ring's former employer about his knowledge of a lucrative consulting job that lobbyists had arranged for the lawmaker's wife, Julie. Ring and Abramoff treated Doolittle's staff members to rock concerts, football games and meals at pricey restaurants, prosecutors say.

In October 2000, Ring wrote Abramoff an e-mail describing Doolittle as "such a good soldier, doing everything we asked of him. ... I know you are great about making sure he gets his fair share of contributions, but if [client] is feeling generous, this would be a very opportune time to get something" to him, according to the indictment. Abramoff and Ring hosted fundraisers for Doolittle at the Capital Grille, a D.C. steakhouse, and arranged for Doolittle's wife to be paid $96,000 for fundraising and bookkeeping services, the indictment alleges.

[more ...]

Disgraced Republican Jack Abramoff was sentenced today in his second case to four years in prison, to be served concurrently with the six year sentence he is already serving.

Judge Ellen Huvelle issued the sentence after federal prosecutors recommended leniency due to Abramoff's cooperation in pursuing corruption cases against lawmakers and former administration officials. He faced a maximum of 11 years under a plea deal reached in 2006.

Abramoff sang for his supper and got rewarded big time. Great job by defense attorneys Abbie Lowell and Neal Sonnett.

In a letter to Rep. Lamar Smith, Karl Rove claims he had nothing to do with the prosecution of Don Siegelman. How reassuring. So why is he unwilling to repeat his assertions under oath? And if his fealty to executive privilege doesn't bar him from making that claim in a letter, what's stopping him from repeating it in a congressional hearing?

This is Siegelman's response. Siegelman has also assembled a handy archive of materials addressing his prosecution.

Had enough of Karl Rove? Vent your anger by joining more than 100,000 people who have signed a petition at Send Karl Rove to Jail. Or just stop by to look at the picture of Rove behind bars. It might make you feel better.

Mississippi lawyer Dickie Scruggs, brother-in-law of Trent Lott, was sentenced to five years in federal prison today for conspiring to bribe a judge:

Scruggs, a former Navy pilot, is tall, slender and appeared composed as he entered the courthouse. But he caved when Biggers brought up his family. His wife, Diane, has been gravely ill.

At the mention of her and his daughter, Claire, Scruggs began to shake as he stood before the judge. His attorney, John Keker of San Francisco, put an arm around Scruggs, whose knees buckled before another attorney slid a chair forward so he could sit down.

Scruggs was contrite. [More...]

Former Bush Administration official David Safavian has had his conviction on perjury and obstruction charges overturned. The charges related to his dealings with Jack Abramoff. He had been sentenced to 18 months in prison and was free on bond pending appeal.

His conviction was based on statements he made to Senate investigators, GSA ethics officials and the agency's inspector general. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out the charges related to ethics officials and the inspector general and ordered a new trial on the other charges.

The court unanimously agreed that when Safavian asked whether he could ethically travel to Scotland for a golf trip with Abramoff, he was not required to tell ethics officials that he'd been providing Abramoff information about government-owned properties.

[More...]