Friday, March 16, 2012

Evidence hidden in Sen. Stevens' corruption case

Ted Stevens
Many will recall the criminal charges brought by the Justice Dept. against former Senator Ted Stevens.  He was found guilty and within days lost his bid for re-election.  The Justice Dept. later dropped all charges citing prosecutor misconduct and the judge in the case appointed an investigator whose report was just released.  Check this out for another glaring example of federal law enforcement being out of control:

° The 525-page report, the fullest review yet of the government's actions, described a rogue team of prosecutors and federal agents who allegedly concealed critical information from the senator's lawyers and allowed its star witness to give false testimony before a jury, which later found Stevens guilty of seven counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure statements.

° Schuelke's report, ordered by federal Judge Emmet Sullivan, who threw out the charges in 2009, found that the prosecution was "permeated by the systematic concealment" of evidence favorable to the defense. The evidence prosecutors failed to disclose, the report concluded, "seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government's key witness."

° The report found that federal prosecutors made "astonishing misstatements" to Stevens' attorneys in an attempt to conceal information suggesting that Allen had pressured a former child prostitute to sign a false declaration that he never had sex with her when she was underage. Prosecutors worried this information might undermine his credibility in the case against Stevens and never disclosed it to Stevens' attorneys, the report says.

So I'm sure the prosecutors will be prosecuted. Nope.


Schuelke's report said the prosecutors could not be charged with criminal contempt of court for their conduct because Sullivan had never given them a "clear and unequivocal" order that they "follow the law."

Think of that.  They have to be told to follow the law or they are immune from the law.  This makes me sick. 

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