7:22 AM
Opening arguments set in Stevens trial
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Opening arguments in Sen. Ted Stevens' corruption trial are scheduled to begin Thursday, but it remains unclear whether jurors will ever hear from the Senate's longest-serving Republican.
The Alaska senator has
said he plans to testify during his corruption trial, but he hedged
that statement with the caveat that he will follow the advice of
his lawyers. During jury selection, when a few jurors said Stevens
should testify, attorney Brendan Sullivan reminded them that
Stevens could sit on his hands and not say a word.
Testifying would expose
Stevens, whose temper has a famously short fuse, to a broad and
potentially devastating series of questions from
prosecutors.
Stevens is charged with
lying on Senate financial forms about more than $250,000 in home
renovations and other gifts he received from powerful oil
contractor VECO Corp.
While the charge is a
simple paperwork violation, prosecutors have given the trial many
of the trappings of a bribery case. They say VECO founder Bill
Allen lavished Stevens with gifts and had a direct line into the
senator's Capitol Hill office whenever he needed help securing
grants or navigating Washington's bureaucracy.
The corruption
investigation has rattled Alaska politics, turning prominent state
lawmakers into convicted felons and making Stevens vulnerable to a
legitimate Democratic challenge for his Senate seat in the Nov. 4
election.
Posted in News on Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:00 am
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