Stevens' wife takes stand for defense

Catherine Stevens, a lawyer who appeared calm and poised while her husband's attorney, Robert Cary, questioned her, took the stand to help support the defense theory that the senator paid all bills he was given in connection with the renovations. She often turned and spoke directly to the jury.

Stevens may testify himself this afternoon. The 84-year-old Republican is on trial for failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts and services, largely from the oil-field service company Veco and its chief executive, his former friend, Bill Allen. Most of the gifts are connected to home renovations that doubled the size of the Stevens cabin in Girdwood.

Stevens' wife, who oversaw the financial details of the renovation work, said she assumed that two Veco Corp. employees on the job site in 2000 and 2001 were being paid by the contractor doing most of the work, Christensen Builders.

"He was working with Christensen Builders," Catherine Stevens said of Robert "Rocky" Williams. "He was on the job there. He was paid by them."

Same for David Anderson, another Veco employee working on their home, said Catherine Stevens.

"He was at the job site, I assumed he was working with Christensen Builders," she said.

Both workers were on the Veco payroll, according to earlier testimony. And Catherine Stevens testified that when she sent Williams a thank you gift certificate from Delta Airlines for all his work on their project, she sent it care of Veco's office in Anchorage.

"I don't know why, unless he asked that I sent it there," Catherine Stevens said. "He worked for Veco, I don't know how long."

Earlier in the day, prosecutors wrapped up their cross-examination of Bob Persons, Stevens' longtime friend and Girdwood neighbor, and a defense witness. Stevens' lawyers called him to strengthen their theory that the senator paid all bills he was given in connection with the renovations.

But prosecutors hit Persons hard both Wednesday and Thursday, pointing to inconsistencies in his testimony. When one of Stevens' defense attorneys, Robert Cary, asked Persons about conversations he had with Allen, Persons said he "reminded Bill (Allen) of all the times that the senator had told him that he had to give him bills for anything and everything that was done at that house."

Yet when asked by prosecutor Nicholas Marsh if he ever actually got an invoice from Allen, Persons said no.

One of Stevens' defense attorneys, asked Persons to describe a February 2006 interview with two FBI agents. The interview was very confusing, Persons said. It "reached a point where I don't know whether I was answering questions or he was," Persons said, describing the demeanor of one of the two agents who interviewed him at his home in Girdwood.

"It was like being mentally water boarded," Persons said. "The guy was awful. That was the most hateful human being I ever met in my life. That guy made me understand why there's a lot of innocent people in prison."