Mr. Stevens was often known to remark that he had a premonition that he would die in an airplane crash.
There is a sad irony here. On October 27, 2008 then Senator Stevens was convicted in Federal Court in Washington DC of seven counts of giving false statements and failing to properly reports gifts given to him by the VECO corporation. Stevens lost his bid for re-election eight days later.
In February 2009, FBI Agent Chad Joy filed a "whistleblower" lawsuit in which he alleged that federal prosecutors and FBI agents conspired to withhold exculpatory evidence from the Stevens defense team. Attorney General Eric Holder then authorized the filing of a motion to set aside the verdict against Mr. Stevens and dismiss the indictment with prejudice. The motion was granted by Judge Sullivan on April 7, 2009 and Stevens, who had been facing incarceration, was a free man. Judge Sullivan called the episode "the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct he had ever seen."
If the whistle blower suit had not been filed the verdict against Mr. Stevens would in all likelihood have stood. It is quite possible that the Judge would not have let Mr. Stevens remain free on bail pending appeal, and if that had occurred it is quite possible Mr. Stevens would not have been on that plane yesterday. Just a thought.
7 comments:
(Reprinted, with permission from The Captain)
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
SO YOU WANT TO BE A CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE?
The following have applied to replace Judge M. Esquiroz:
William Altfield
J/Beth Bloom
Manuel Casabielle
Miguel de la O
Dawn Denaro
Rachel Diaz
Alan Fine
Robert Galt III
J/Darrin Gayles
Steven Grossbard
Richard Hersch
Robert Kuntz, Jr.
J/Norma Lindsey
Margaret Rosenbaum
J/Rodney Smith
Paola Mazure
Alan Sackrin
J/Lisa Walsh
J/Debora White Labora
On a separate note, if you have not already heard, former Senator Ted Stevens is now confirmed dead in a plane crash in Alaska.
Many of you remember that he was tried by the US Atty recently, and, after getting convicted, the DC Judge dismissed the claim over prosecutorial misconduct.
At the time, District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan said: "In nearly 25 years on the bench, I've never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I've seen in this case,".
Say a prayer tonight for the Stevens family and for the others that died in the crash.
Cap Out ....
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 3:07:00 PM
Is there any position that Kuntz hasn't applied for?
Very interesting how we react to a person's death. If Stevens died in his sleep, it would not merit any space on this blog. But go down in a blaze of glory or in a way that brings home everyone's worst travel nightmare, it is front page/screen news. About 40,000 people die a year in auto accidents. But if 40 go down in a plane crash, we hear about it big time.
Who are the up and coming ASAs and APDs?
You mean hot looking females who most older male lawyers sit around fantasizing about (yeah!!) while waiting for their case to be called or people who are going to be quality lawyers (yawn!!)?
Die an old man in jail? Or die a year or 5 earlier, free, and like a man! I take option B and I imagine Stevens would have too (not that he had much choice in the matter it seems).
It is terrible tragedy that Ted Stevens has passed away. You can help remember him by contributing to his memorial website at http://tedstevens.people2remember.com/
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