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A federal judge on Monday rejected Sen. Ted Stevens's request to dismiss or suspend his criminal trial despite claims that the Justice Department withheld evidence about a key witness. The Alaska Republican faces charges of concealing $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Veco Corp., a now-defunct oil services company. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges. Rocky Williams, a former employee of Veco Corp., told Stevens's defense team over the weekend that he did not spend nearly as much time overseeing the renovations as the prosecution said during the first week of the trial, according to Stevens’s lawyers. In emergency documents filed Sunday night, the defense pressed Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to dismiss the case or declare a mistrial, arguing that Williams's contention that the government had overblown his time spent in the senator's Girdwood, Alaska home undermines the government's case over the cost of the renovations. The defense accused government lawyers of blocking its attempts to contact Williams, who flew from Alaska to Washington to meet with the prosecution for five to six hours, but returned home because of health problems. Nicholas Marsh of the Justice Department conceded that the government could have handled the situation better and said his team instructed Williams to contact defense attorneys when he returned to Alaska. Marsh said the government was not hiding anything, and argued that even if Williams worked fewer hours, it does not undermine the basic notion that Stevens hid hundreds of thousands of dollars without reporting them. "In our view, this is basically a tempest in the teapot," Marsh said. The defense argues that Stevens and his wife paid the appropriate amount — $160,000 — for the remodeling, but the government alleges that the renovations were so extensive that Stevens knowingly did not pay for or report an additional $188,000. "Our defense is that he paid a fair price, and that Mrs. Stevens paid a fair price," said Robert Cary, a defense attorney for Stevens. Angered by the unexpected development, Sullivan said he was "not inclined" to dismiss the case. But he said he would allow a new cross-examination of a former bookkeeper at Veco, Cheryl Boomershine, who testified last week that Williams worked hundreds of hours on the site without billing the senator. The judge also opened up the possibility of holding a deposition of Williams and requested his grand jury testimony to see whether additional evidence was being withheld. Sullivan said he was "flabbergasted" and "peeved" that the government sent Williams back to Alaska without informing him and the defense attorneys. "I think the government is treading in some shallow water here," Sullivan said, his voice rising. |
