Amid financial crisis, Stevens asks to skip trial
Originally published Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 5:38 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 1:57 p.m.
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Stumble It!WASHINGTON -- As Congress rushed to stop a meltdown in the U.S. financial market, the Senate's senior Republican told a federal judge Tuesday that he might need to skip out of his corruption trial from time to time this week.
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens said he understood it might look bad to jurors if he leaves court in the opening days of trial. But his attorney said his Senate duties took priority.
"There's only one thing more important in his life than this trial, and that's doing his duty as a senator, particularly in this time of national crisis," attorney Brendan Sullivan said.
Stevens is charged with lying about more than $250,000 in home repairs and other gifts he received from an oil contractor. The trial comes at a difficult time in his political career: He is fending off a strong Democratic challenge to his seat and is tethered to a courtroom during the height of campaign season.
Being absent as Congress considers a historic $700 billion bailout of the financial market could make it look like the corruption charges have made it impossible for Stevens to do his job.
It's unclear when Stevens might have to leave court. Jury selection was scheduled to conclude Wednesday morning and opening statements are scheduled for Thursday. Capitol Hill lawmakers, meanwhile, are under pressure to pass a bailout package quickly.
The Bush administration wants quick passage of legislation that would allow the government to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets from banks shaken by the mortgage and banking crisis.
Prosecutors didn't oppose Stevens' plan to leave court but they said Stevens shouldn't be able to use the crisis to cast himself as a dedicated senator in front of jurors. The judge said Stevens could leave court but jurors would not be told why.
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This guy sounds like he is really not getting the message. He is finished! Done. Caput. Fini.
Too bad he didn't resign this summer so we could all pat him on the back and tell him what a great job he's done. Instead, he is carrying on an affair with the criminal courts while he should be working.
I wonder what all-important legislation he will be part of that he must skip out of court to attend? Voting in favor of a bail-out? The present crisis is nothing more than the same thing he is in court for only magnified 10,000 times, so we can only assume he wants to be in session to prove to his friends hes still part of the 'good ole boy' club. Unbelievable.
AP 15 October 2008 - "Stevens lawyers file papers requesting he be allowed to leave penitentiary to vote on anti-crime bill"
guilty as the hayeses!!!!
Quick Vote
Which party is more to blame for the U.S. financial crisis?
Democrats 28% 69619
Republicans 72% 176840
Total Votes: 246459
So Stevens wants to skip his court dates as he pleases and Todd Palin can flat out ignore a subpoena with no consequences...
And yet if us peons were to try this?
If you ever get a subpoena just ignore it and when you get arrested tell the judge they let Todd Palin get away with it and see what they say.
Put you in jail, that's what they'd do, V. The Upper Crust isn't subject to the same laws everyone else is.
Yep, it sure seems that way.
"Freedom and justice for all, freedom from justice for some."
I just wanted to point out that Sen. Stevens is innocent- innocent until proven guilty. That's the way our system is supposed to work. So until those folks in D.C. prove he did anything wrong, I'll assume he's in the clear. He's not my favorite politician (I voted for another Republican in the Primary), but even if he's charged I would rather vote for him than Mark Begich, who is not only a downtown-Anchorage-style liberal, but has proved to be no more ethical than Stevens by cheating on his taxes.
Sure, innocent until proven guilty. Of course, I agree. But that doesn't mean that he should be able to come and go as he pleases in COURT?! When he's up on criminal charges! As others said, there's no way any of us would get away with that. We'd be in jail in a hot second.
This just proves how important HE thinks HE is, and I for one am sick of his arrogance.
Well said, Valkyrie!
"Sen. Stevens is innocent- innocent until proven guilty" means "Sen. Stevens is held innocent until a jury believes beyond a reasonable doubt that Senator Stevens knowingly intended to deceive". That does not mean that we do not have sufficient evidence to know whether Senator Stevens was in Veco's pocket. The fact of the matter is that the evidence is already overwhelming that Senator Stevens traded influence for favors from Veco. It's in the phone recordings and in Bill Allen's testimony. A failure to convict Stevens does not mean he has been an honest senator.
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