October 2008

Longtime Massachusetts State Senator Dianne Wilkerson of Roxbury was arrested on Tuesday by federal authorities on charges of attempted extortion under color of official right and theft of honest services as a State Senator. She is accused of taking eight bribes totaling $23,500: it’s alleged that in one scheme, she took payments totaling $8,500 to help secure a liquor license for an undercover agent and a cooperating witness posing as constituents; in another, that she took payments totaling $15,000 in a scheme to transfer public land for a proposed development to an undercover agent posing as a private developer. The evidence includes a photograph taken by the undercover agent purportedly showing her stuffing a $1000 bribe in her bra. She appeared on Tuesday before before US Magistrate Judge Timothy Hillman but did not enter a plea; she was released on $50,000 bond and ordered to appear at a hearing on November 17 (Boston Globe, Boston Herald, DOJ). A related Herald article suggests that this is the beginning of a wider scandal.

Although early news reports stated that US District Judge Emmet Sullivan had set January 26 as the sentencing date for convicted Sen. Ted Stevens, he changed his mind. Now he has set a hearing dte of February 25 and has postponed sentencing until sometime after that. He has given Stevens’ attorneys until December 5 to file motions. Anchorage Daily News (McClatchy) has expanded coverage of the verdict and an editorial about how he lost his way: “His story, however, didn’t persuade the jury — and it shouldn’t persuade voters, either.”

The jury has convicted Sen. Ted Stevens on all seven counts of making false statements on his Senate disclosure forms. Sentencing has been set for January 26 (ADN/McClatchy, WaPo/AP).

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Sunday dismissed the missing Juror No. 4 in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens. He has been unable to contact her since she left suddenly on Thursday evening, saying she had to attend her father’s funeral in California. An alternate juror has been named and deliberations will start from scratch Monday morning (Anchorage Daily News).

Jack Campbell, former lobbyist for the Texas Association of Business, speaks out in a Statesman op-ed about the recently concluded prosecution of TAB (earlier) which saw charges against Campbell dropped:

Ronnie Earle spent six years trying to get the taste of sour grapes out of his mouth. He badly wanted to convict TAB for exercising the right of free speech but lost. His attempt at pitting corporate America against the little guys was nothing more than a power play to avenge his goose-egg track record of convicting public figures.

Meanwhile, a Statesman editorial frets about corporate money in elections; too bad they aren’t more concerned with free speech. At least they acknowledged that Earle’s declaration of victory was ludicrous.

The jury in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens was sent home for the day this morning by US District Judge Emmet Sullivan. He didn’t explain to them why Juror No. 4 was missing, probably because no one seems to know for sure. Last night it was reported that she was leaving for Texas to attend to a sick relative, now she reportedly has gone to California to attend her father’s funeral. Judge Sullivan plans to call her at 5 PM today to determine her status. She apparently said nothing to the marshall to indicate that she was abandoning the jury, but no one seems to know for sure if or when she will return.

Judge Sullivan has scheduled another hearing for 6 PM Sunday. At this point the prosecution reportedly wants to proceed with an alternate juror but the defense is against it and also doesn’t want to proceed with only 11 jurors. Judge Sullivan is also opposed to going with 11 jurors in light of yesterday’s problems with Juror No. 9 (McClatchy, BLT, earlier).

After leaving early Wednesday citing stress and a need for “a minute of clarity,” the jury in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens fared no better on Thursday. Around midday, the jury foreman sent four notes to US District Judge Emmet Sullivan, one of them demanding that Juror No. 9 be dismissed because she was “rude, disrespectful and unreasonable,” had engaged in “violent outbursts” and had refused to follow procedures (text of note). Judge Sullivan brought all the jurors in, gave them what he described as a “pep talk” and sent them back to deliberate. In the afternoon, the jurors again asked to leave early, citing exhaustion. Then Juror No. 4 told the marshal that she had to leave for Texas immediately to see a seriously ill family member. She could not be located afterwards. Judge Sullivan called an emergency session early Thursday evening, telling attorneys for both sides to have briefs to him by 7 AM Friday about the possibility of going forward with 11 jurors; he’ll hold a hearing at 9 AM (McClatchy, WaPo).

Six years. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted on a bogus felony prosecution. Hundreds of thousands spent by the Texas Association of Business to defend itself. And in the end, on Tuesday, the TAB pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, unlawful direct campaign expenditure, and paid a $10,000 fine to make it go away. TAB admitted that it paid the salary of its president Bill Hammond when he traveled the state in 2002 in support of Republican candidates. Charges against its former lobbyist Jack Campbell were dropped. Other felony charges brought by Earle against TAB had already been thrown out by State District Judge Mike Lynch.

Ever graceless and clueless, Travis County DA Ronnie Earle claimed victory when in fact it was a repudiation of his attempt to convict the organization on felony charges. Worse, he’s still claiming that the facts supported a felony and that cost was the only reason he avoided a trial (Austin American-Statesman ).

After hearing an hour and 20 minutes of instructions from US District Judge Emmet Sullivan, the jury in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens begin deliberating. After about four hours, they asked to leave slightly early, citing a need for “a minute of clarity;” Judge Sullivan granted the request.

In the instructions, Judge Sullivan told jurors that star prosecution witness Bill Allen’s guilty pleas in other cases have no connection to this case, and allowed jurors to consider other acts Stevens was not charged with but that were included in the testimony. He again specified to jurors what stricken evidence could not be considered but according to McClatchy, “the language in the instructions laid no blame for why the evidence wasn’t to be considered.”

Closing arguments were made on Tuesday in the public corruption case of Sen. Ted Stevens. Jurors will begin deliberations today.

Prosecutor Joseph Bottini dismissed Stevens’ explanations for not reporting renovations on his Alaska home and gifts on his financial disclosure forms, calling his claims “nonsense.” He replayed the recording in which Stevens told former VECO CEO Bill Allen that the worst that could happen to them was a little jail time, and asked “Does that sound like someone who really believes he didn’t do something wrong?”

Stevens’ attorney Brendan Sullivan told jurors that prosecutors had twisted the evidence against Stevens: “If you look at life through a filthy, dirty glass, then the whole world looks dirty.” He said that the $160,000 that Stevens paid was more than enough to cover the cost of the renovation project and that Stevens and his wife “believed they paid their debts and they didn’t think they were getting anything for free.” (McClatchy, WaPo)

Under cross examination Monday, Sen. Ted Stevens continued to insist that he was unaware that VECO paid for unbilled renovations on his Alaska home. Lead prosecutor Brenda Morris cited emails where he had praised a VECO employee for work done on the home, yet Stevens continued to deny that VECO as a company worked on his home. When Morris questioned Stevens about certain furniture he had received which was admittedly in the home for years, Stevens insisted that the furniture was there on loan and was not an undisclosed gift. Quote of the day, from Stevens: “We have lots of things in our house that don’t belong to us.” Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday and the case is expected to go to the jury on Wednesday (McClatchy, WaPo).

A longtime civilian purchasing agent with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (part of the US Department of Defense) has admitted stealing $280,000 in agency funds by using his government P-Card to process phony credit card transactions through his girlfriend’s sham credit card processing business. Steven C. Brown pleaded guilty to one count of theft of public money earlier this month in US District Court in St. Louis. Brown and his girlfriend Teressa Shrum, a former exotic dancer and Hustler model, were indicted in June on 20 counts of theft of public money. Shrum pleaded not guilty; her trial is scheduled to begin on November 3. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Brown is likely to face 18 to 37 months in prison when he is sentenced on December 30 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, DOJ).

Attorneys for Sen. Ted Stevens on Saturday filed yet another motion for dismissal, this time based on the same evidence already excluded from the trial by US District Judge Emmet Sullivan. Now the defense says that the billing records of two VECO employees that the prosecution knew were false were also presented to the grand jury which indicted Stevens: “Knowingly presenting false testimony to the grand jury is conduct fatal to the indictment and inconsistent with the liberties and due process rights the government is entrusted to safeguard.” (Roll Call)

On Sunday evening the prosecution responded by claiming that the defense motion quotes from grand jury testimony in violation of a direct order by Judge Sullivan that grand jury testimony not be revealed: “The Court’s Order could not have been clearer: Do not disseminate or publish the material to anyone – not defense counsel, not witnesses, not third parties, and certainly not the public at large.” (Roll Call)

Sen. Ted Stevens spent all day Friday on the witness stand. Under direct examination, he reiterated the defense’s theme that his wife was in charge of the bill paying and renovations to their Alaska home since he was too busy and that he was unaware of any unbilled work on the home. He called key prosecution witness Bill Allen’s testimony that Stevens knew he was getting work done for free “just an absolute lie.” But on cross examination he told lead prosecutor Brenda Morris that Allen “was a good friend and I trusted him.” As Morris continued to grill him about inconsistencies, Stevens got progressively crankier and accusatory, at one point telling her “I think you better rephrase your question; your question is tautological.” Will the jury understand that?(MSNBC, McClatchy)

Sen. Ted Stevens spent 20 minutes on the witness stand late Thursday, denying that he ever intentionally filed false disclosure forms. He will apparently be the last defense witness. His attorney Brendan Sullivan plans to question him for at least two more hours Friday morning.

His wife Catherine Stevens testified earlier, asserting that she was the one who oversaw the renovations on their Alaska home because the Senator was too busy. She said the assumed that two VECO employess who worked on the house were being paid by Rocky Williams of Christensen Builders. Williams is the prosecution witness who was mysteriously shipped back to Alaska by the prosecution at the last minute.

(McClatchy, Reuters)

Texas’ Third Court of Appeals Chief Justice Ken Law has denied Justice Jan Patterson’s allegation that he refused to let her file a dissent to the court’s ruling last week denying Travis County DA Ronnie Earle’s latest attempt to subvert the Court’s earlier ruling in the cases of Tom DeLay associates John Colyandro and Jim Ellis (earlier).

In a reply filed Monday with the Texas Supreme Court, Law said he acted because Patterson refused to follow the court’s internal procedures which call for circulating the opinion among colleagues first to allow them to respond:

“Justice Patterson’s dissenting opinion is currently in circulation at the court and will be released together with any other opinions in the matter upon completion of that process … It is well-settled that a court of appeals may maintain internal administrative rules regarding … issuance of opinions.”

The court already refused Earle’s motion to rehear its August 22 decision en banc; the motion denied last week was Earle’s attempt to get the court to reconsider its previous refusal on grounds that Justice Alan Waldrop was biased and should have recused himself. Give it up, Ronnie.

When we last visited the Ronnie Earle dog-and-pony show, the Travis County DA had filed a motion asking Texas’ Third Court of Appeals to reconsider its August 22 ruling (earlier) by a three-judge panel of the Court in the cases of Tom DeLay associates John Colyandro and Jim Ellis. The Court has already refused an en banc rehearing.

Earle’s target is Justice Alan Waldrop, who wrote the decision. That’s because Waldrop, before he was elected to the court, once dared to call a civil lawsuit against Colyandro and Ellis “politically motivated.” At the time, Waldrop was representing Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which met with Colyandro during the 2002 US congresional campaign. In the Dudley Do-Right world of Ronnie Earle, that’s prima facie evidence of corruption.

Waldrop has refused to recuse himself. And last week, the Third Court denied Earle’s motion without further explanation. Now Justice Jan Patterson, one of the Court’s two Democrats, has accused Chief Justice Ken Law of refusing to file her dissent to that ruling. Last Friday, she asked the Texas Supreme Court to intervene in the matter. Her filing claims that after she announced her intention to file a written dissent, Law instructed the court clerk not to file it. Will the Texas Supreme Court choose to get involved? Apparently there’s no state law or court rules discussing the right to file a dissent.

Bob Persons, a neighbor who looked after Sen. Ted Stevens’ Alaska home, testified on Wednesday that he never told former VECO CEO Bill Allen not to send Stevens a bill for the renovation work VECO performed on the home. Allen, the government’s key witness, previously testified that Persons told him “Ted’s just covering his ass” by requesting a bill.

Augie Paone, a carpentry contractor, testified that Allen told him to “eat” a bill for about $13,400 of work he did on the home rather than send the bill to Stevens, and to regard it as a political contribution. He said it would have been “business suicide” to disregard Allen’s wishes. On cross examination, Paone conceded that he later did more work on the home which he billed to VECO, and acknowledged that it was work that would have been noticed by Stevens.

Both Sen. Stevens and his wife Catherine are expected to testify today.

(ADN/McClatchy, Reuters)

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Tuesday denied a defense motion (earlier) to quash a DOJ subpoena from September 15 demanding emails and other documents from Mayer Brown LLP, where Stevens’ wife, Catherine Stevens, is a partner. Although the prosecution has rested, Catherine Stevens is listed as a potential defense witness. If there’s anything in those documents that could be problematic on cross examination, it could put the brakes on defense plans to have her testify.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) testified on Tuesday as a character witness, calling Stevens “one of the true lions of the Senate” and “totally honest, totally straightforward.” Hatch admitted on cross examination that he was unfamiliar with the case. Stevens said that he intends to take the stand, possibly as early as today. The defense could rest as early as late today or Thursday and the case could go to the jury by next Tuesday.

(Reuters, Anchorage Daily News)

Attorneys for Sen. Ted Stevens on Saturday filed a motion to quash (.pdf) a DOJ subpoena from September 15 demanding emails and other documents from Mayer Brown LLP, where Stevens’ wife, Catherine Stevens, is a partner. Prosecutors want emails between the Senator and Mrs. Stevens as well as her correspondence with 37 other people and companies regarding anything of value that may have been provided to the couple. Stevens’ attorneys called the government’s renewed request for more documents “a last-minute fishing expedition” and impermissibly overbroad. The motion also claims that any communications between the Senator and Mrs. Stevens are privileged. The trial resumes Tuesday (Anchorage Daily News).

Friday developments in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens:

• US District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the defense is limited to five character witnesses.
• Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Stevens: “As we say in the infantry, this is a guy you would take on a long patrol.” On cross-examination, Powell admitted that he had never visited Stevens’ Alaska home and was unfamiliar with the case.
• The principals of two construction businesses that performed work on Stevens’ Alaska home testified that all bills were paid promptly and never ignored.
• A private appraiser and two assessors with the Municipality of Anchorage testified that the value of Stevens’ home after the renovations could not have equaled the value the government claims Stevens received in free labor and gifts.

(CQ Politics, McClatchy)

Although US District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Wednesday tossed out the time card records of VECO employee Dave Anderson, saying the government knew they were falsified, he did allow Anderson to testfy on Thursday about the work he did on Sen. Stevens’ home. Anderson, nephew of former VECO CEO Bill Allen, said he was at the home as many as six days a week during parts of 2000 and 2001. But he also said that Stevens wasn’t around much and that the renovation was “basically Bill’s thing. Bill [Allen] wanted to do it, take care of Mr. Stevens.”

The defense did not cross examine Anderson; the prosecution rested. Judge Sullivan rejected the prosecution’s plea to not issue jury instructions which will explain to the jury that the time records are being tossed out due to government misconduct; he also denied the defense’s motion for acquittal.

The defense’s first witness was Stevens’ longtime colleague Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who testified to Stevens’ good character: “I can assure that his word is good, as far as I’m concerned, it’s good enough to take to the bank.” Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to testify on Friday.

(CQ Politics, Politico, McClatchy)

The latest twists and turns in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens:

In motions filed Wednesday night, prosecutors asked US District Judge Emmet Sullivan not to issue instructions to the jury, while attorneys for Stevens asked for acquittal.

Earlier Wednesday, Judge Sullivan refused the defense’s latest motion for dismissal or a mistrial, but he did throw out certain evidence: time card records of two VECO employees who allegedly worked on Stevens’ Alaska home and evidence about the value of a Land Rover which former VECO CEO Bill Allen traded to Stevens in 1999. Judge Sullivan said prosecutors knew the VECO time card records were falsified and that prosecutors failed to turn over a check which established the cost of the Land Rover.His comment: “Something smells here.”

In Wednesday testimony, prosecutors sought to show that Stevens was closely involved in the renovation to his home and in his own finances.

(Politico, WaPo, CQ Politics)

The testimony of the government’s star witness, former VECO CEO Bill Allen, ended Tuesday. Allen’s attorney Robert Bundy, who was booted from the courtroom at the end of Monday’s session when US District Judge Emmet Sullivan accused him of coaching Allen’s answers, was not in the courtroom on Tuesday. On cross examination, Stevens’ attorney Brendan Sullivan accused Allen of coloring his testimony to protect his company and his children as part of his plea agreement.

Jurors heard more taped conversations, this time between Allen and Bob Persons, a neighbor who looked after Stevens’ Alaska home. They discussed arrangements for Allen to pay contractor bills. The prosecution’s last witness will testify Wednesday. Judge Sullivan indicated he would then hear the defense’s latest motion to dismiss (CQ Politics).

US District Judge Emmet Sullivan allowed the trial to continue and deferred until Tuesday or Wednesday a hearing on the defense’s latest motion to dismiss. Jurors heard recorded conversations between Sen. Stevens and key witness Bill Allen; RetireTed has sound files of excerpts from the conversations. While Stevens did mention the possibilty of jail time on one of the tapes, he also insisted that he and Allen had done nothing wrong.

On cross examination by Stevens’ attorney Brendan Sullivan, Allen admitted that he never tried to bribe Stevens and acknowledged that Stevens wanted to pay for everything he got. Cross examination of Allen will continue Tuesday.

ABC News reports that Judge Sullivan noticed during Allen’s testimony that Allen’s attorney Robert Bundy was giving hand signals to coach his answers. After Allen’s testimony for the day ended, Judge Sullivan called Bundy to the dais, threatened him with contempt of court and ordered him out of the courtroom. McClatchy has more trial coverage.

Attorneys for Sen. Ted Stevens late Sunday night filed a new motion for a mistrial or dismissal of charges. The latest motion is based on new information they received late Friday after US District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered prosecutors to turn over more evidence including rough FBI notes (earlier). The latest motion alleges intentional misconduct by prosecutors, claiming they got key witness Bill Allen to change his statement after they learned of his statements which were favorable to Stevens. The government’s response is due today (NYT).

UPDATE:

Motion To Dismiss

Government’s Initial Opposition To Motion

Breaking: lead prosecutor Brenda Morris has admitted the government “made a gross error” in failing to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence to Sen. Ted Stevens’ attorneys. Former VECO CEO Bill Allen said he believed that Stevens would have paid for the renovations to his Alaska home if Allen had ever billed him, but his statement was not revealed to the defense until late yesterday afternoon or early this morning. US District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s response: “It strikes me that this was probably intentional. I find it unbelievable that this was just an error.”

Judge Sullivan stopped testimony and set a hearing for 4:30 today to consider defense motions for a mistrial or dismissal.

(WaPo, Roll Call, Bridge To Justice)

Former CIA executive director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, once the agency’s third-ranking official, on Monday pleaded guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud. He admitted using his position to help his buddy Brent Wilkes, owner and founder of defense contractor ADCS, get fat defense contracts. From the DOJ Press Release (via Market Watch):

Throughout the years-long scheme, Foggo had a standing offer for a high-level, high-paying position with his best friend Brent Wilkes (who is currently serving a 12-year sentence imposed following his conviction in the Southern District of California for bribing former Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunningham). Foggo admitted that he allowed Wilkes to conceal their close relationship by adopting false cover stories regarding their relationship and using “straw men” and shell companies to conceal Wilkes’s interest in CIA contracts. As described in the indictment, Foggo caused the CIA to enter into these lucrative contracts without disclosing his interests.

The plea agreement follows a superseding indictment in May which piled on more counts (earlier), but Jerry Markon’s Washington Post article (here) suggests that Foggo got a good deal after his defense team threatened to introduce highly sensitive intelligence information if the case went to trial. Foggo’s sentencing is scheduled for January 8, 2009 before US District Judge James Cacheris in Alexandria; prosecutors are recommending no more than 37 months in prison.

Tuesday’s testimony in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens included the beginning of testimony by the prosecution’s key witness Bill Allen, the former CEO of VECO, the now-defunct oilfiled services company at the center of most of the Alaska corruption cases. There was not enough time to begin Allen’s testimony on renovations at Stevens’ Alaska home, but he did describe their long friendship and how Stevens approached him in 1999 and asked him to install a backup generator at the house, apparently because Stevens was concerned about Y2K predictions. The generator cost about $6,000 and Allen said that to his knowledge, Stevens had never paid VECO for the installation (McClatchy).

Earlier, Stevens’ former press secretary Courtney Boone said she “tried to get the story to go away” when a reporter questioned her in 2004 about the renovations. She described how she tried to delay responding to the reporter, Heather Reicz, in the hope that she would back off, and how Stevens referred her to his wife instead of responding to the inquiry. Reicz testified that she “closed the file and threw up my hands” after concluding that she wasn’t going to get a straight answer (CQ Politics).