Judge Orders Release of Report of Senator Stevens’ Prosecution

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan who presided over the prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has ordered that the report which criticizes the prosecution be release on March 15, 2012. Stevens was prosecuted and found guilty in 2008 but was ultimate vindicated prior to sentencing after the court learned that the prosecutors mismanaged the case. The report is said to be 500 pages long and the court is delaying its release to give the attorneys mentioned in the report time to file written objections.

Judge Sullivan quoting from the report stated that “the investigation and prosecution of Sen. Stevens were permeated by the systematic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated (his) defense and his testimony, and seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government’s key witness.”

Senator Grassley stated that “The public has a right to know what the special investigator found and how pervasive the misconduct was inside the Public Integrity Unit at the Justice Department. The American people need to hear the truth about what happened, not simply trust the Justice Department’s internal Office of Professional Responsibility review process.”

Stevens died in a plane crash August 9, 2010.