Sen. Stevens Found Guilty In Corruption Case
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has been convicted of lying about free home renovations and gifts he received from an oil contractor. The Senate's longest-serving Republican was found guilty on all seven counts of making false statements on Senate financial documents.
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ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
From NPR News, this is All Things Considered. I'm Robert Siegel.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
And I'm Michele Norris. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is guilty on all counts. The Senate's longest-serving Republican was convicted today of lying on his disclosure forums in order to conceal a quarter million dollars in gifts. The gifts came to him from an oil industry executive and other friends. NPR's legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg was in the courtroom, and she's here with us in the studio. Nina, can you describe the scene in that courtroom?
NINA TOTENBERG: Well, the jury of eight women and four men filed in, and the foreman, who works in a drug rehabilitation agency, stood to read the verdict. The judge read out each count, and the foreman's replies then came in a soft voice, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty on all seven counts. Senator Stevens bowed his head after the first verdict, then raised it again and showed no further emotion. His wife sat in the front row, grim faced. The judge then postponed sentencing until next year, probably in early March sometime.
NORRIS: So, sentencing next year, but could Senator Stevens go to jail?
TOTENBERG: Oh, technically, he could get a maximum of five years on each of the seven counts, but that's unlikely. Even under the sentencing guidelines, he would get a lot less than that. And the judge has the power to sentence the 84-year-old Stevens to no time at all in jail.
NORRIS: And he's free until the sentencing hearing.
TOTENBERG: Right. He's free for now on his personal reconnaissance.
NORRIS: Ted Stevens has been in the Senate since 1968. He's now locked in a very fierce reelection battle as he tries to win his eighth term next Tuesday. How does this change his prospects looking ahead?
TOTENBERG: Well, he's one point behind in the polls. Obviously, this hurts his prospects, but they do love him in Alaska. They call him Uncle Ted. That's all one can say. I mean, he gambled that he would be acquitted, and he wasn't.
NORRIS: Nina, there's a lame duck session of Congress coming up. Will Ted Stevens be in chamber for that?
TOTENBERG: Well, he said, in the weeks leading up to the trial, put this down, that will never happen. I am not stepping down. So, I would assume he's going to be there because he can serve out his term. I am assuming he's not going to resign, and if he's reelected, the Senate rules don't require him to step down at any point, unless two-thirds of his colleagues would vote to expel him.
NORRIS: And under what circumstances might that happen?
TOTENBERG: Well, he has been convicted of seven felonies. I mean, if he goes to jail, or even if he doesn't go to jail, they could vote him off the island, as it were. But we're not there. He hasn't won reelection. This is, obviously, going to make it more difficult for him.
NORRIS: Nina, this was a very interesting trial, a lot of twists and turns and very interesting testimony. One of the jurors was dismissed, I understand, just yesterday.
TOTENBERG: That's right. One of the jurors, her father died. They couldn't contact her over the weekend. And they had planned to maybe hold the jury over until Tuesday if she could get back from California, but when they couldn't find her, they brought in an alternate. She started sitting this morning, and apparently, they were nine-tenths of the way there because, by this afternoon, they had a verdict.
NORRIS: Ted Stevens, throughout this, he and his legal team have been very, very confident, even though they faced some fairly serious charges. Going into deliberations and, I guess, the last hours of this trial, were they still confident?
TOTENBERG: It's hard to know. They put on a defense that was mainly the senator and his wife. They were not good witnesses for themselves, and what had started out as a terrible case for the prosecution, in which they had many missteps and almost had a mistrial at one point, ended up with, I think, most people in the courtroom thinking the odds were that he would be convicted of something.
NORRIS: NPR's legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg. Thanks so much.
TOTENBERG: Thank you.
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Sen. Stevens Found Guilty Of Lying About Gifts
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) arrives at federal court Monday in Washington, D.C., for the day's proceedings at his trial.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) arrives at federal court Monday in Washington, D.C., for the day's proceedings at his trial.
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of seven corruption charges Monday in a trial that tainted the 40-year Senate career of Alaska's political patriarch.
The verdict, coming barely a week before Election Day, added further uncertainty to a closely watched Senate race. Democrats hope to seize the once reliably Republican seat as part of their bid for a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Unbowed, even defiant, Stevens accused prosecutors of blatant misconduct and said, "I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have."
The senator, 84 and already facing a challenging re-election contest next Tuesday, said he would stay in the race against Democrat Mark Begich. Though the convictions are a significant blow for the Senate's longest-serving Republican, they do not disqualify him, and Stevens is still hugely popular in his home state.
Stevens was convicted of all the charges he faced of lying about free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor. Jurors began deliberating last week.
The senator showed no emotion as the jury foreman said "guilty" seven times. After the verdicts, Stevens sat in his chair and stared at the ceiling as attorney Brendan Sullivan put his arm around him.
Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count when he is sentenced, but under federal guidelines he is likely to receive much less prison time, if any. The judge originally scheduled sentencing for Jan. 26 but then changed his mind and did not immediately set a date.
The monthlong trial revealed that employees for VECO Corp., an oil services company, transformed Stevens' modest mountain cabin into a modern, two-story home with wraparound porches, a sauna and a wine cellar.
The Senate's longest-serving Republican, Stevens said he had no idea he was getting freebies. He said he paid $160,000 for the project and believed that covered everything.
He had asked for an unusually speedy trial, hoping he would be exonerated in time to return to Alaska and win re-election. He kept his campaign going and gave no indication that he had a contingency plan in case of conviction.
Despite being a felon, he is not required to drop out of the race or resign from the Senate. If he wins re-election, he can continue to hold his seat because there is no rule barring felons from serving in Congress. The Senate could vote to expel him on a two-thirds vote.
"Put this down: That will never happen — ever, OK?" Stevens said in the weeks leading up to his trial. "I am not stepping down. I'm going to run through, and I'm going to win this election."
Democrats have invested heavily in the race, running television advertisements starring fictional FBI agents and featuring excerpts from wiretaps.
Stevens' conviction hinged on the testimony of Bill Allen, the senator's longtime drinking and fishing buddy. Allen, the founder of VECO, testified that he never billed his friend for the work on the house and that Stevens knew he was getting a special deal.
Stevens spent three days on the witness stand, vehemently denying that allegation. He said his wife, Catherine, paid every bill they received.
Living in Washington, thousands of miles away, made it impossible to monitor the project every day, he said. Stevens relied on Allen to oversee the renovations, he said, and his friend deceived him by not forwarding all the bills.
Stevens is a legendary figure in Alaska, where he has wielded political influence since before statehood. His knack for steering billions of dollars in federal money to his home state has drawn praise from his constituents and consternation from budget hawks.
Stevens is the fifth senator convicted of criminal charges. The last previous one was Republican David Durenberger of Minnesota, who was indicted in 1993 on charges of conspiring to make fraudulent claims for Senate reimbursement of $3,825 in lodging expenses. He later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine.
The jurors in the Stevens trial left the court without comment.
Said U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan: "The jurors have unanimously told me that no one has any desire to speak to any member of the media. They have asked to go home and they are en route home."
The jurors had been shuttled to and from the proceedings each day by court officials.
From the Associated Press
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