Prosecutors rebuke Stevens' demands

"The evidence amply supported defendant's convictions," prosecutors said.

And in two other filings Friday, the deadline for responding to post-trial defense motions, the government flatly rejected Stevens' pleas that the judge overrule the jury and acquit him, or that some of the charges be dismissed as duplicative of others.

Most of the issues covered in the three documents had already been litigated before or during Stevens' month-long trial in Washington, D.C., that ended in his conviction Oct. 27. If U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rules against Stevens and President Bush doesn't pardon him, those same issues are likely to be the basis for Stevens' appeal to a higher court.

The government's filings didn't directly address the thorny Justice Department complaint by FBI agent Chad Joy, one of the main case agents in the public corruption investigation in Alaska. In other pleadings, Stevens' defense team asserted that Joy's complaint of unethical and possible illegal conduct in the investigation and trial were further grounds for a new trial or dismissal outright of the charges.

Rather, the government filings covered a slew of issues raised by the defense last month, from arguing the trial should have been held in Alaska to assertions that the government's chief witness, former Veco Corp. president Bill Allen, lied on the stand and that prosecutors knew it.

"Although defendant maintains a home in Alaska, for all practical purposes he lived and worked in the District (of Columbia)," Brenda Morris, the government's lead trial attorney, said in the main filing Friday. "In addition, the crimes for which defendant was tried and convicted -- namely, the creation, signing, and submission of false financial disclosure forms -- all occurred in the District," she wrote.

That's also where Stevens received the "loan" in 2001 of the infamous $2,700 Brookstone massage chair from his Girdwood pal, Bob Persons, Morris noted, and from where Stevens sent e-mails showing he knew that Veco was paying and managing renovations and repairs to his Girdwood home.

Morris rejected as defense "conjecture and wishful thinking" that Allen made up the blockbuster quote from Persons that Stevens was "covering his ass" when he sent a note to Allen asking for a bill for Veco's work on his house.