WASHINGTON -- The judge who oversaw former Sen. Ted Stevens' trial said Tuesday he may allow testimony in open court from two of the people who have come forward with complaints about how the investigation and prosecution unfolded.
Stevens, who was found guilty on seven counts of filing false statements on his U.S. Senate financial disclosure forms, was convicted Oct. 27. Since then, though, the former Alaska senator's lawyers have filed several motions to outright dismiss his original indictment or to grant Stevens a new trial. Their motions have been based in part on allegations in a whistle-blower complaint by Anchorage FBI agent Chad Joy, and a witness in the case, Dave Anderson.
"A lot has happened since the verdict was returned in October," said U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who during Tuesday's hearing largely dealt with housekeeping matters connected to the Joy complaint and a letter submitted to him by Anderson.
The judge on Tuesday agreed to put on hold all other pending motions in the trial until prosecutors give him a written status update about their progress and plan for releasing documents and other materials to the defense. The documents in question are connected to information revealed in Joy's whistle-blower complaint and in Anderson's letter to the court.
Anderson, the government's final witness in the trial, did extensive work on Stevens' home in Girdwood while on the payroll of the defunct oil-field service company Veco Corp. He said in a letter to the court following Stevens' conviction that he gave false testimony about a plea deal he believed he had with the government, and that prosecutors knew it. The government has disputed Anderson's account.
Separately, Joy said the lead agent in the probe grew too close to sources and violated FBI policy. Part of the team investigating political corruption in Alaska since 2004, Joy also alleged that prosecutors worked to prevent Stevens' lawyers from seeing favorable evidence before and during the trial.
"We are mindful the verdict was returned in October and has been lingering before the court," said Paul O'Brien, a Justice Department attorney who was recently assigned to the case.
"It's not been lingering," Sullivan said, adding that the corruption case is "just as active" post-trial as it was before and during the trial.
Justice Department lawyers told the judge Tuesday that they have already begun turning over information, including the results of interviews conducted by the department's internal investigators. They've also been conducting witness interviews with people within the department with knowledge about Joy's complaint and knowledge about the matters he outlined in it.
Tuesday's hearing was the first to feature the Justice Department's new legal team on the case: O'Brien, chief of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section; David Jaffe, deputy chief of the Domestic Security Section; and William Stuckwisch, a senior Fraud Section trial attorney. The three are handling all post-trial matters connected with allegations of attorney misconduct.
The new team took over after Sullivan last month held in contempt the lead attorney during the trial, her supervisor, and an appellate attorney at the Justice Department for failing to turn over to Stevens' legal team internal Justice Department files about Joy.
The government has until April 9 to file an update on where prosecutors are on releasing information about Anderson and Joy to the court. Stevens' team has until April 14 to file its response. Another hearing is set for April 15.
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
ebolstad@adn.com