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Sen. Ted Stevens appeared in federal court Monday for the first day of his criminal trial as the court announced a list of prospective witnesses that included several of the most senior members of the Senate. Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who is Stevens’s closest friend in the Senate, could be asked to take the stand during the four-week trial, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said Monday. In addition, witnesses might include former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Alaska Gov. Bill Sheffield and Bob Penney, a powerful political operative in Alaska and a long-time friend of Stevens. The announcement came as 150 prospective jurors assembled at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and filled out questionnaires and received instructions from the judge. Jury selection is expected to take much of the next two days, and opening arguments could begin as early as Wednesday. The Alaska Republican, facing seven felony charges for concealing more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from an oil-services company from 1999 to 2006, has pleaded not guilty in the first case involving a sitting senator in nearly 30 years. Wearing a navy blazer, Stevens was flanked by his defense team and took no questions as he left the courthouse in a white van. Stevens, his son Walter and his wife Catherine also may take the stand in the case. The trial is expected to run five days a week for four weeks, but the judge said it “could run longer, it could run shorter.” The timing is critical for Stevens’s re-election hopes. The longest-serving Republican senator is seeking a seventh full term in November, and is trying to get his name cleared before Alaskan voters head to the polls. Sullivan instructed potential jurors that they could not read or watch news accounts of Stevens’s trial if they are selected to serve. He insisted that the two sides would select the “fairest and most impartial jury.” |
