From newsource:
A just-released report by a special investigator found that federal prosecutors knowingly concealed exculpatory evidence during their pursuit of criminal charges against the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), including allowing false testimony to be presented during the trial.
Stevens was charged in July 2008 with seven counts of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper gifts. Stevens - the longest serving Senate Republican in U.S. history - was later convicted of those charges. He lost his reelection that November, ending a legendary political career that had begun before Alaska was even a state.
But Attorney General Eric Holder moved to have the verdict aside in 2009 after finding widespread problems in the prosecutors’ handling of the case, including allegations of prosecutorial misconduct by a FBI agent involved in the case. After that stunning development, a special investigator, Henry Schuelke, was appointed by the court to review the case.
On Thursday, more than three years later and after Stevens’ death in a plane crash in 2010, Schuelke’s 500-plus page report laid out in exhaustive detail a narrative of legal bungling and prosecutorial missteps.
Continue reading here. UPDATE: Legislation introduced today to require broader discovery…
Mark…
Thanks for your 3-14 article on the Gaine’s case! I had continued to hope that I could alter my plea and secure a new trial/dismissal but this article confirms the system’s incredible & tenacious ”resistance to innocence”.During my year-plus within court I was given 3 public defenders.Not one sought requested subpoenas,interviewed witnesses,filed requested motions or shared any discovery,so in essence,I had to work pro se.My personal defense work did stretch things out for over a year(..to the dismay of prosecutors and judge)but in the end as the trial approached and it was clear that my attorney still wasn’t working the case,it was obvious the nolo plea was my only sensible option.Your article gives me a much better appreciation of the types of resistance I would likely have encountered had I attempted to pursue this further.In an exhausted state and battling with cancer,wasting further energy isn’t a grand idea.Again thank you and keep-up the terrific work!