On April 7 last year, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan set aside the criminal conviction of Ted Stevens, the former senator from Alaska found guilty of lying on Senate disclosure forms by concealing about $250,000 worth of goods and services. Stevens’ attorney had moved unsuccessfully for a mistrial because the prosecution withheld exculpatory information. After the conviction, it was revealed the government failed to turn over evidence that it offered immunity to a key witness and that the witness’ testimony about the immunity he received was false due to influence by the prosecutors.
This prosecutorial misconduct was so serious that it was actually Attorney General Eric Holder who made the extraordinary motion to dismiss the charges. In granting the motion, the district court judge — who previously denied the motion for mistrial — stated that in his 25 years on the bench, he had not seen anything approaching the level of misconduct that occurred in the case. He then appointed an independent attorney — a former military judge — to investigate the conduct of the six prosecutors for potential criminal contempt and obstruction of justice.
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