sorry about the lost election, ruined career and tarnished reputation.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/01/stevens.case.dropped/index.html
You have to give credit to Holder for doing the right thing here. Evidently, even he was disgusted by the prosecutorial misconduct in this case.
I agree. The most remarkable thing to me is that they are asking for the conviction to be overturned and they will not seek a new trial. That just does not happen. Must have been a very weak case and some really bad conduct.
I only hope some more careers are ruined as a result. The right ones this time. I’d really like to see the investigation into exactly how this clusterf*** happened, and who if anyone was responsible for pushing this prosecution beyond reason.
You do have to wonder what people entrusted with investigating and prosecuting are thinking. I can understand the temptation to misbehave if you think someone is getting away or has gotten away with something that you just can’t quite prove. But I can’t understand acting on that temptation. I hope that is what was going on rather than creating a crime out of whole cloth because someone thought it would advance their career in some way.
You do have to wonder what people entrusted with investigating and prosecuting are thinking. I can understand the temptation to misbehave if you think someone is getting away or has gotten away with something that you just can’t quite prove. But I can’t understand acting on that temptation. I hope that is what was going on rather than creating a crime out of whole cloth because someone thought it would advance their career in some way.
In our “Star Chamber,” we’re pretty sure that Stevens was taking stuff from constituents. Whether it rose to the level of prosecutable, I doubt it, but someone decided to pursue it anyway.
Makes no diff what happens to them now, as the incumbent (R) is out and a (D) is in. It has helped give us the congress that will give Obama most anything he wants, so it's a pretty big deal really.
oh yeah, conveniently got the guilty verdict a week before election:
Alaska Senator Is Guilty Over His Failures to Disclose Gifts By NEIL A. LEWIS Published: October 27, 2008
Don't get me wrong, the guy sounded dirty, maybe a little more than average, but the case looked to be conducted in a really political fashion, and it's as repugnant to see the "other" party prosper by deceit as it is to get the list of kickbacks the senator himself benefited from.
I guess there are downsides to politicizing the Justice Department. If the prosecution of Ted Stevens was a political witchhunt, as you claim, I’m sure you are equally upset about the media prosecution of Governor Blagojevich.
I have wondered for a while if the prosecutor on that case was a Republican appointee or Democrat.
Not that the two cases are in any way similar, but I have to say what Stevens did was at least dishonest and unethical and he should have resigned. As to whether it met the legal standard necessary to bring him to trial, we’ll never know due to the outrageous misconduct evidenced by this federal prosecutor. IN what class in his law school was this sort of thing taught? I don’t remember it in mine, and I went to what could charitably be described as a fly-by-night evening version. Maybe he learned it once he got out there and started “doing” law in the real world; what say you, counselor?
T.
oh yeah, conveniently got the guilty verdict a week before election:
Actually, Stevens himself pushed hard to get an early trial date - he wanted to get a verdict before the election.
IN what class in his law school was this sort of thing taught? I don’t remember it in mine,
Sure you do. Remember that guy or that girl in class who was going to be a prosecutor so they could do God’s work and combat evil? After a time, combatting evil needs a little assist. Especially when you know the bastard did it.
Where do I go to get my reputation back?
-Ray Donovan
I’m not totally against the line of thinking.
Just be prepared to pay the price if you are wrong =)
Sure you do. Remember that guy or that girl in class who was going to be a prosecutor so they could do God’s work and combat evil? After a time, combatting evil needs a little assist. Especially when you know the bastard did it.
Step 1: Don’t be a politician
Where do I go to get my reputation back?
-Ray Donovan
Must have been a very weak case and some really bad conduct.
Right… his friends just happened to jack his house up and build an entire new ground floor then fill it with fancy viking appliances, etc. Meanwhile he coincidentally worked to pass legislation that helped his friends make millions at taxpayers expense.
I’m sure it was all totally legit… if it wasn’t for those damned prosecutors breaking the rules he never would have ended up in court in the first place.
I’m sure it was all totally legit… if it wasn’t for those damned prosecutors breaking the rules he never would have ended up in court in the first place.
Nope, he would’ve ended up in court. But he never would have been convicted. Sadly, we’ll never know the true outcome because the process of justice was fatally tainted by the prosecutor. There’s a prima facie case to be made, of course, as to the criminality underlying the proposition by the feds that he committed a felonious act. And he seemed to especially lack ethics and honesty. But that could have been handled either by his resignation from the Senate or his expulsion from it. Sadly, neither he nor the “greatest deliberative body in the world” had the courage to take either step, so we were once again left to rely on an inadequate federal criminal justice system to see our wishes for decisive results carried out.
T.
There’s a prima facie case to be made, of course, as to the criminality underlying the proposition by the feds that he committed a felonious act. And he seemed to especially lack ethics and honesty.
Is that true, or is our cynicism concerning politicians so endemic that we allow for no other possibility? Without having spent time looking at Sen Stevens’ situation, my first thought was “of course he did it.” My take on the exculpatory evidence did little to change my snap judgment. Now, I ask myself if I am just a bit too jaded.
That’s why a fair trial was called for. Because “on first glance” (prima facie) Stevens certainly looked like he’d engaged in possible criminal behavior. Everything from that point on, though was fatally tainted “fruit of the poisoned tree.” But him getting what he got was just part-and-parcel of the spell of unruly mob mentality (and populist claptrap) that our country seems to have fallen under since last fall and the dive in our stock markets which took place. There seems to be a “whack-a-mole” mentality, which I gleefully participate in, on occasion 
going around which says “kill them first and we’ll sort things out later.”
If he had received a fair trial – which it appears he and his lawyers thought they were going to get – and a just decision a week before the election, do you think he wouldn’t have been reelected? I think the answer to that is obvious. Now, whether he should have resigned in shame over his ethical lapses before the election ever took place is another question altogether…
T.