Transcripts show Stevens turned down plea offer
Originally published Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 8:29 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 1:45 p.m.
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Stumble It!WASHINGTON - Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens turned down a plea offer that would have spared him a corruption trial and the possibility of imprisonment, according to newly released transcripts of conversations between attorneys and the judge.
Stevens took his chances that a jury would find him innocent and instead pleaded not guilty on the day of the conversations. Three months later, the jury returned a guilty verdict but Stevens recently was cleared of all charges because of prosecutorial misconduct in the case.
When U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan dismissed the charges last week, he also ordered the release of all transcripts of bench conferences held in the case. The plea offer was revealed in the transcript from July 31, 2008.
With prosecutors and defense attorneys gathered in front of him at the bench, Sullivan asked Justice Department attorney Brenda Morris whether the prosecution had offered a plea deal or planned to do so. Stevens attorney Brendan Sullivan interjected that there was a plea offer, but that Morris probably wasn't aware of it because she wasn't present when it was made.
Brendan Sullivan said the offer was for Stevens to plead guilty to one felony count and in exchange serve no jail time. "We turned it down," Steven's attorney said. He didn't elaborate, but even without imprisonment such a plea deal would likely have cost Stevens the Senate seat he had held for 40 years.
Whatever offer may have been on the table in the past, both sides told the judge they wanted to press ahead with the trial and were not willing to negotiate.
Morris was not aware the deal had been offered, but told the judge: "I'd like to make clear on the record that there is no offer at this point."
Brendan Sullivan responded, "And if one is made, it will not be accepted."
Stevens was in court that day, but wouldn't have heard the conversation along with the rest of the courtroom since it was held at the bench. Stevens didn't speak publicly that day, but during the hearing Brendan Sullivan told the court that the senator wanted a speedy trial that would clear his name before the November election.
Instead, Stevens would be convicted just a few days before voters went to the polls. He narrowly lost re-election.
Judge Sullivan threw out the conviction at the request of the Justice Department, which found that important evidence had not been turned over to Stevens' defense team.
The judge took the extraordinary step of opening an investigation into whether prosecutors broke the law by failing to turn the evidence over. Morris is one of the targets of that investigation.
In response to the judge's criticism of the Justice Department's handling of the case, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday that he would provide more training to prosecutors on what they must turn over to defendants. He also said he would assign senior prosecutors to review the discovery practices in criminal cases, including the need for improved policies and additional training, staffing and technology to help meet their obligations.
"We will continue to review how cases are managed before, during and after charges are filed, and where there is room for improvement, we will make additional changes," Holder said in a statement.
The plea offer was first reported online by Legal Times.
Community Discussion
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When the justice system is known to be corrupt - as it now IS - then anyone without deep pockets to defend themselves may be unreasonably tempted to take a deal when they know they are INNOCENT. If only to keep from being bankrupted.
What has this country come to?
Once again ,there's that 'speedy trial' without the fair.
I guess it's like ordering a hamburger now.
Stevens : "I would like a speedy trial","Hold the fair".
Sure, that's what he ordered.
Who cares? He is a crook and got away with the crime!
I wonder how many Viking BBQ's it takes to get a Federal conviction thrown out?
This trial was joke from the beginning!! Ted should NEVER have faced any charges...it was simply an attempt to railroad him out of the Senate.
The system cost a great man his Senate seat and AK lost more than it can ever image in influence and federal money.
A few Justice Department officials should end up working at McDonalds (if even they will hire them) after this sad sad case.
Bravo Ted...you are a GREAT American!!!
Which one costs more? A Viking BBQ Grill or a Portuguese Waterdog?
moose - Is that one of those " I made my mind up to be judge and jury, so don't confuse me with the constitution" moments one is having?
What worries me is that someone so high up on the political food chain could get railroaded instead of justly tried. My simplisitic and possibly wrong observation is that Bush Admin justice (sic) department folk created this travesty, which leaves me more confused - why sabotage one of their own?.
It's vindication of sorts the whole thing has been declared a mistrial but there's no clearly equitable way to resolve the effect on the recent election of Begich over Stevens.
Begich seems like a largely innocent beneficiary i.e. he didn't do anything to add this mess into the mix.
The analogy that comes to my mind is punishing this generation of caucasian americans for the benefits slave owners gained century before last.
It's not something that can be rationally or equaitably resolved, the least exacerbating strategy is to let go & move on.
I don't say that because I'm especially for Begich or against Stevens, it's that any rebalancing requires even more tortured logic & actions.
Justice is a scalar process, not a vectorial outcome.
Not guilty or innocent? Which is it?
It's just corruption. Hey, as long as we ours in Alaska, who cares? right?
Why is this news? rfn, first poster, is correct. Innocent people feel or actually are forced to accept plea deals all the time because of the reasons he/she stated...and more.
It goes on this town. It is not limited to "big" cases or fed or other jurisdictions.
Stevens has money, and was completely justified--and capable of paying for due process--in refusing a plea deal.
We lost a great Senator - it was all a scam to get Ted Stevens out of office! What a shame that we lost someone who really could work for this state & got a "little weasel" instead! It makes me so proud!!!
Do we know who the whistle-blower was in this case? Who brought this to AG Holder's attention? Was it the judge - and if not, isn't the judge just as culpable as the corrupt prosecutors?
RickHoegburg - I guess it possibly could depend if the culprits were actually liberal or conservative, democrat or republican on an individual basis , but it wouldn't surprise me that the justice dept. committed sabotage, seeing that I was wondering the same thing about the McCain camp doing likewise to Palin during and shortly after the campaign.
Dove - Legally innocent and guilty of whatever, but not crimes as that's personal opinion, not to be stated as fact unless one is judge and jury in a fair trial, hence this is where we are at.
One thing everyone seems to forget.. Stevens went to trial after a federal grand jury decided there was enough evidence to proceed. A grand jury made of ALASKANS. Alaskans decided he should go to trial.
According to this article, Prosecutor Brenda Morris had no knowledge of what has evidently turned out to be a plea bargain offer to Senator Stevens, by someone of higher authority, to a one-count felony conviction in exchange for no jail time. She stood in front of the judge, alongside Sullivan, and caught unawares, asked "What plea bargain?".
I ain't no lawyer, but this sounds way out of the realm of normal procedure. This case is becoming more bizarre daily.
Stevens' steadfast refusal to plea bargain reinforces my belief that he was railroaded. Not that it makes much of a difference anymore. Nobody, not even BHO, wants to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Except some of us Alaskans who are angry at having our election tampered with. And they're telling us "Tough luck. Take a hike. Those are the breaks."
Tea Party, noon at Airport and Noble
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