What is going on with the Ted Stevens trial? We're into the fourth week of endless outraged remarks, objections, motions and countermotions.
The government is engaging in "intentional misconduct," says the defense team.
"No one has attempted to hide evidence," says the prosecution. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gets into the act as well, delivering admonishments and threats for sanctions.
To the casual observer it appears to be a three-ring circus. The reality, though, is this is all normal for a high-stakes corruption trial.
Ted Stevens has his career and freedom on the line and his attorneys must do anything and everything to win. Standard operating procedure for the defense is to cry foul over every perceived transgression and insist on a mistrial at every opportunity.
In fact, Stevens' lead defense lawyer Brendan Sullivan is well-known in legal circles for his public fits of outrage over perceived "prosecutorial misconduct" -- resulting in a 2006 admonishment by a federal judge for making unsupported claims that prosecutors had engaged in wrongdoing.
The Department of Justice lawyers are equally predictable. They have to fight every defense motion, make dozens of their own, and act outraged along the way.
Our legal system doesn't always look pretty from the outside.
But is Ted Stevens getting a fair trial? As a lawyer I believe the answer is an absolute yes. Here are the facts:
Judge Sullivan made pretrial rulings that leveled the playing field for the defense, such as requiring the prosecution to turn over more evidence than it is normally required to give to a defendant.
No one can say Judge Sullivan has ignored mistakes. He is focused on the details, and his remedies to procedural errors have been as strict as, or stricter than, the law requires. He has held the prosecutors to a very high standard in order to ensure Ted Stevens gets a fair trial. Judge Sullivan has carefully protected Ted Stevens' rights.
Judge Sullivan has stopped or delayed the trial to fully review the lawyers' positions. (Incidentally, these in-trial, on-the-record conferences also make a later appeal less likely to succeed.)
It's often hard for the casual observer to get a complete picture during the trial because they have not been charged with listening to the dozens of hours of testimony and weighing each piece of evidence. But the twelve citizens, who have accepted this duty, will go into the jury room, weigh the evidence and produce a fair verdict. That's our American system of justice and it's worked very well for over 200 years.
And let's not forget that while most defendants in the criminal justice system don't have the money or resources to go toe to toe with federal government prosecutors, Stevens' interests are being carefully protected by his six-figure defense team.
Ted Stevens' defense lawyers are the best in the world. His expert team has done a thorough pretrial investigation, extensive motion work, crafty procedural and trial maneuvers, and an analysis of jury behavior, at a cost estimated to exceed $175,000/week. It is this preparation that has kept the prosecutors on their heels.
When you take into account the ample resources of the Department of Justice, it's like watching the Yankees play the Red Sox -- expensive player payrolls and all. And most importantly, Judge Sullivan has proven to be a hard-nosed and impartial umpire.
Public corruption trials always are full of bluster, charges and countercharges but no matter what the verdict on Ted Stevens, justice will be served.
Margaret Simonian was a defense attorney in the Pete Kott corruption trial. She is also a volunteer with and financial contributor to the Begich for Senate campaign. This piece was submitted in response to the Daily News editorial, "Stevens trial: Prosecution's shabby conduct undermines public confidence," (Oct. 10)."
By MARGARET SIMONIAN