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A federal judge Tuesday set aside the conviction of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

He also initiated criminal contempt proceedings against the government lawyers who prosecuted Stevens. He appointed an independent, nongovernment attorney to investigate the matter.

"Until recently, my faith in the criminal justice system was unwavering. But what some members of this prosecution team did nearly destroyed my faith. Their conduct has consequences they must know can never be reversed," Stevens said in a statement read to the court.

"But today ... my faith has been restored ... [I have] new hope that others may be spared from similar miscarriages of justice."

Stevens added that he would "encourage the enactment of legislation to reform laws relating to the responsibilities and duties of those entrusted with the solemn task of enforcing federal criminal laws."

In issuing his ruling, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan noted that the Department of Justice's investigation into potential misconduct by government prosecutors had already gone on for six months with no result.

"The silence is deafening," Sullivan said.

Stevens maintained his innocence throughout a government probe that led to an indictment and conviction last year for failing to report gifts of value on mandatory Senate financial forms.

Soon after he was found guilty, Stevens, a Republican, lost his bid for re-election to challenger Mark Begich, the Democratic former mayor of Anchorage.

Last week, when asked how the former senator could ever clear his name, defense attorney Brendan Sullivan replied, "His name is clear. He is innocent of the charges, as if they've never been brought."

In the days that followed the Justice Department motion to dismiss, Alaska state Republican leaders, including Gov. Sarah Palin, have called on Begich to step down and allow a rematch without what has been called the "taint" of a criminal case against Stevens, 85.

Begich issued a statement that he intends to serve his six-year term.

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The only thing that would make this funnier would be finding a link between the prosecution and the Obama election team.

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But the dismissal will not declare Stevens innocent. Nor will it rewrite the facts of a case in which Stevens took thousands of dollars in favors and freebies from wealthy friends.

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"He still had gifts he received," juror Colleen Walsh said Monday.

Gifts he received
Those that came to mind, she said, were the $2,700 massage chair, a custom stained-glass window worth $3,200, and a $29,000 fish sculpture. None of those had anything to do with the home renovations or the disputed testimony.

"All those he still did not claim" on Senate forms, said Walsh, who said the new evidence might have saved Stevens on a few counts, but not others.

Stevens and his supporters responded to the Justice Department's admission as if it pronounced his innocence.

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Rejection of defense
There was no mention of the fact that jurors unanimously rejected Stevens' defense.

At trial, he said he didn't disclose the items he received because they were not gifts. The massage chair, for instance, remained in his house for seven years but Stevens said it was a loan. He said he assumed the stained-glass window was paid for, since his wife takes care of such things. The fish statute was a donation to his foundation, he said, and only remained on his front porch because that's where the donors shipped it.

Jurors convicted him on all of that, and none of it would have been changed by the newly discovered evidence.

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Michael Sklaire, a former corruption prosecutor, said the decision to dismiss the case was more about punishing the prosecutors for withholding evidence than about exonerating Stevens. When the case against a drug dealer falls apart, Sklaire said, the charges disappear but the defendant can't really say he's innocent because he still got arrested with drugs.

Unique case
Stevens accepted things and did not disclose them. Jurors said that was criminal.

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The only thing that would make this funnier would be finding a link between the prosecution and the Obama election team.

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hehe. And you think I'm Coke....

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There was prosecutorial misconduct DURING the trial that the judge knew about and still let the trial go on. The fact is, this should have been declared a mistrial way back when, but if that had happened Stevens would have been re-elected.

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hehe. And you think I'm Coke....

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Actually I was told you were. What "I" think is that you're just some shlub who waits tables and doesn't even know how to drive a car.

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Done with the bar/restaurant thing for a while. Still don't know how to drive.

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you're just some shlub who waits tables and doesn't even know how to drive a car.

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Dismissal to erase Stevens verdict but not facts

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There should be a couple of fucking lawyers going to jail and being bitches for Bubba.

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