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Stevens: "Sinister" Sen. Or "Simple" Guy?
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| Parent(s) |
Race
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Oct 21, 2008 08:49pm |
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| Category | Legal Ruling |
| Media | TV News - Columbia Broadcasting System CBS News |
| News Date | Wednesday, October 22, 2008 02:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Prosecutors, Defense Make Closing Arguments In Alaska Lawmaker's Corruption Trial
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is an honorable, trusting man who was taken advantage of by a corrupt friend who provided expensive gifts, not the architect of a "master cover-up by a sinister senator," as portrayed by prosecutors at his corruption trial, his lawyer argued Tuesday.
The 84-year-old Stevens, the Senate's longest-serving Republican senator, is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from his friend, millionaire Bill Allen, who runs oil services company VECO Corp.
Stevens testified for three days and said he never asked for the rope lighting, furniture, gas grill, fully stocked tool chest or other items that kept appearing at his house.
He said he repeatedly pressed Allen to remove the unwanted items, and asked him frequently for bills for the renovation work that changed the modest A-frame cabin into a two-story home with wraparound decks, new electricity and plumbing, a sauna and a master-bedroom balcony.
"He's a very simple guy," Sullivan said. "He asked for no gifts, and he's got some guy foisting things" on him.
Prosecutors ridiculed Stevens' explanation as "nonsense" in their closing statements.
"Does anybody really believe that the defendant really can't get Bill Allen to stop giving him all this free stuff?" Bottini asked.
In particular, Bottini seized on an awkward exchange that occurred Monday, when Stevens said an expensive massage chair was a loan, not a gift, from another friend.
"Does anyone really believe he thought that chair was a loan? It's been in his house for seven years," Bottini said. "What were the terms of this loan? Zero percent interest for 84 months? Simply saying, 'We're going to call this a loan and I don't have to report it,' is nonsense." |
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