Juneau Alaska Police Attempt Bogus Felony “Tampering With Physical Evidence” Against Man Who Swallowed Something They Can’t Identify

JUNEAU, ALASKA – A Juneau man is learning the hard way that when caught smoking a joint on the street, the trick is not to conceal the evidence by eating it.

Police say they forwarded felony “tampering with physical evidence” charges against a 24-year-old man after he apparently ingested a marijuana joint when confronted by a police officer.

Lt. David Campbell said in a interview that a police officer was patrolling the downtown area last Friday and smelled the marijuana at the intersection of Fourth and Harris Streets.

The officer located the man, then observed him eating the joint, Campbell said.

The man was not arrested, but JPD forwarded the charges to the District Attorney’s office per their request. His name was not released.

Campbell said this is something that happens periodically.

“People don’t understand that having the marijuana is a class ‘B’ misdemeanor, which is like one step above running a red light. Then when they destroy it, and they’re tampering with physical evidence, that’s a higher charge,” Campbell said.

Tampering with physical evidence is a class ‘C’ felony that is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

If the man didn’t ingest the joint, he would likely only be facing misconduct involving a controlled substance in the sixth-degree. That maximum penalty for that misdemeanor is 90 days in prison and a $2,000 fine.

Alaska law allows a person to possess less than four ounces of marijuana (plant or dried) in the home, but not in public.

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Crazed Alaska State Police Troopers Arrest And Jail Man For DUI For FLOATING DOWN A RIVER ON A RAFT

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA — A Juneau man faces a rare DUI charge for allegedly having a 0.313 breath-alcohol content as he floated through Fairbanks on an inflatable raft Sunday night.

Alaska’s driving under the influence law applies to people operating motor vehicles, water craft and airplanes. The vast majority of charges are for terrestrial motor vehicles.

But when Alaska State Troopers received a report of a “heavily intoxicated” man floating down the Chena River near the Parks Highway bridge at 6:40 p.m. Sunday, a wildlife trooper boat responded and arrested 32-year-old William Modene.

“Modene had been floating on the river for the day and consuming alcoholic beverages the entire time,” troopers wrote in their “daily dispatches” log on their website.

At 0.313, Modene’s breath-alcohol content was almost four times the legal limit for operating a vehicle, 0.08.

Modene was arrested without incident and was cooperative with troopers, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Modene posted $2,500 bail on Monday, according to the Alaska court system website.

Under Alaska’s DUI law, operating a water craft means to “navigate a vessel used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water for recreational or commercial purposes on all waters, fresh or salt, inland or coastal, inside the territorial limits or under the jurisdiction of the state.”

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Alaska Suing Obama Administration Over EPA Regulations Targeting Ships In The State’s Waters – New Federal Regulations Will Jack Up Already High Costs Of Shipping And Cruise Ship Operations In Alaska Waters

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – The state of Alaska sued the Obama administration on Friday to block environmental regulations that would require ships sailing in southern Alaska waters to use low-sulfur fuel.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, challenges the new federal regulations, which require the use of low-sulfur fuel for large marine vessels such as cargo and cruise ships.

The rule is scheduled to be enforced starting on August 1 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard for ships operating within 200 miles of the shores of southeastern and south-central Alaska, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit faults the EPA, the Department of Homeland Security and others for using a marine treaty amendment as the basis for the new federal regulations without waiting for ratification of that amendment by the U.S. Senate.

The Alaska Department of Law said in a statement that the low-sulfur-fuel requirement would be costly, jacking up prices for products shipped by marine vessel and harming Alaska’s cruise industry.

“Alaska relies heavily on maritime traffic, both for goods shipped to and from the state, and for the cruise ship passengers who support thousands of Alaskan jobs,” Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty said in a statement.

“There are reasonable and equally effective alternatives for the Secretary and the EPA to consider which would still protect the environment but dramatically reduce the severe impact these regulations will have on Alaskan jobs and families.”

Totem Ocean Trailer Express, a major shipper operating in Alaska, estimates that the move to low-sulfur fuel will increase its costs by 8 percent, Geraghty said.

A spokesman for EPA’s Seattle regional office was not immediately available to comment on the lawsuit.

The treaty amendment at issue is a 2010 agreement under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or MARPOL. The United States has signed onto MARPOL, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted the 2010 amendment.

Domestic enforcement of the amendment is not permitted without ratification by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, Assistant Alaska Attorney General Seth Beausang said. He said the EPA also erred by failing to conduct an environmental analysis.

“The only thing they relied on was the treaty amendment in issuing the regulations,” he told Reuters, adding that Alaska was not coordinating its effort to overturn the regulations with any other state.

The lawsuit names as defendants the EPA and its director, Lisa Jackson, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Janet Napolitano, the Coast Guard and its commandant, Admiral Robert Papp, and Clinton.

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Heros “Hack” Alaska DOT Construction Signs – “IMPEACH OBAMA” – Dumbass State Workers Never Locked Control Boxes

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Several electronic road construction signs around Anchorage were hacked late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Signs that normally display closure and detour information, like the one on Minnesota Drive near 100th Avenue, were changed to read “Impeach Obama.” That particular sign wasn’t fixed until sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Thursday.

It happened because DOT says it doesn’t lock the boxes on the signs that hold the message control pad.

Construction managers say sign-hacking has never happened before, so they never thought to lock the boxes.

DOT says that changed this morning, and now all of them will be locked.

“I’m sure somebody thought it was a pretty funny joke but we try to convey a lot of important information with these signs,” said Tim Croghan, a regional construction engineer for DOT.

Tamara Douglas snapped a picture of the sign message around 6 a.m. Thursday.

“(‘Impeach Obama’) was the only thing that was on the sign,” Douglas said. “It was coming in and out and just said that over and over again.”

DOT says anyone caught tampering with construction signs could face charges of criminal mischief, which is a Class A misdemeanor.

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2 Coast Guard Members Shot And Killed At Alaska Base

KODIAK, ALASKA – Two Coast Guard members have been shot dead on an island off Alaska’s coast, prompting the lockdown Thursday of their base and at least one nearby school.

The Coast Guard offered few immediate details Thursday afternoon as to how, when or why two of its own were killed. Capt. Jesse Moore did acknowledge, though, “It is possible the suspect remains at large.”

“We are deeply saddened that we lost two shipmates,” Moore said in a news release. “This is a rare occurrence, and we are going to do everything possible to ensure we find out exactly what happened.”

The victims, who have not been identified by name, were members at the Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak.

Their base is on what the city of Kodiak’s website calls the second-largest island in the United States, situated in the Gulf of Alaska about 250 miles southwest of Anchorage. The borough of Kodiak Island has about 13,600 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Peterson Elementary School, which is on Coast Guard property in Kodiak, went into lockdown mode around 8:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. ET) after school leaders got a call from military police, Principal Beth Cole said.

By 11 a.m., they shifted to “lock in” mode — allowing for more movement within the school, though lunch was still delivered to students in their classroom as a precaution, said Cole. No people were allowed in and out of the building all day.

Six other schools — three elementary, one middle and one high school — on the island were also affected, school district Superintendent Stewart McDonald said.

Those schools were on “lock in” status starting at 11:30 a.m. so that activities could continue as normal, except for the fact no one could enter or leave the buildings. At the time, Kodiak High School was hosting an Alaska Association of Student Government meeting involving youth from around the state.

All restrictions for the district’s roughly 2,200 students were called off about 1 p.m. after state troopers called school officials and said that operations could return to normal, according to McDonald.

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$77,000,000 Taxpayer Funded Runway Planned In The Middle Of Nowhere

ALASKA – Remember Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere,” a $400 million span that was supposed to connect Ketchikan to its airport on sparsely inhabited Gravina Island? The project gained infamy in 2005 as a waste of taxpayer dollars and the funds earmarked for it were withheld. The 8,000 residents of Ketchikan continue to be connected to their airport by ferry.

Fast forward six years and another remote Alaskan airport project is raising questions about how the government spends money.

The price this time is $77 million and the place in Akutan, a remote island village in the Aleutian chain, according to a report from the Alaska Dispatch.

By next winter Akutan is scheduled to have a 4,500-foot-long runway, built at a cost of $64 million ($59 million in federal and $5 million state funds), the Dispatch reports. The problem is, the runway is on Akun Island, 6 miles from the village across the treacherous waters of the Bering Sea. Plying those waters can be tricky with seas over 6 feet and winds above 30 mph.

Original plans called for using a hovercraft – at a cost of $11 million – to ferry passengers from Akutan to Akun. But, the Dispatch points out, the same model hovercraft planned for the route has proven unreliable under similar conditions elsewhere in Alaska. And when it did run, operating losses were in the millions.

Now, transportation officials are considering using a helicopter to ferry passengers from Akutan, according to the Dispatch report. Cost of that is still being determined.

Should officials get it all figured out and funded, who’ll benefit? Akutan has a year-round population of 100, but that spikes to about 1,000 in the summer when Trident Seafoods processing plant, the largest seafood processing plant in North America, is in operation, the Dispatch reports. Trident is contributing $1 million to the project, the Dispatch says.

And why is this necessary? Air service to Akutan is now provided by World War II-era amphibious aircraft operated by Peninsula Airways. Those are becoming increasing difficult to maintain, Peninsula Vice President Brian Carricaburu told the Dispatch.

Carricaburu also says the runway could cut the government’s costs in one way. Peninsula Airways routes to Akutan are now subsidized by about $700,000 annually under the federal Essential Air Service program. Using bigger, more efficient aircraft could bring that cost down, he told the Dispatch.

But to reach that point, it looks like a lot of figurative bridges have to be crossed.

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Veteran Alaska State Trooper Eric Burroughs Charged With DUI After Drunken Wreck In State Vehicle – Almost 2 MONTHS After Crash

ALASKA – An Alaska state trooper has been charged with drunken driving nearly two months after police say he drove a state-owned SUV into two vehicles in Eagle River, court records show.

The veteran trooper investigator, Eric Burroughs, had a blood alcohol level more than five times the legal limit to drive, even hours after the collisions, according to charges filed in court this month.

Burroughs, 44, fled from one of the accidents, leaving his front license plate at the scene, charges say.

Burroughs showed signs of impairment the night of April 8, when Anchorage police found him slumped inside the unmarked, blue Ford Explorer issued to him by troopers.

A trooper for 13 years, Burroughs is now charged with drunken driving and failing to report a collision, both misdemeanors. He has not worked since the incident and remains on paid administrative leave, collecting $3,649.50 in pay every two weeks, troopers said.

Col. Keith Mallard, the head of the troopers, said in May that the agency would conduct an internal investigation into the incident. A trooper spokeswoman declined to say Tuesday whether that investigation is under way.

Police spokeswoman Anita Shell refused to talk in detail about the case. She referred questions to the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals. Calls to the OSPA’s director went unanswered Tuesday.

According to charges filed in court June 2, the trouble began when Burroughs was driving the Explorer on Driftwood Bay Drive and struck a Chevrolet pickup.

Police spotted tire marks that indicated Burroughs hit the accelerator after colliding with the Chevy, the charges say.

While police found a license plate from the Explorer at the site of the accident, it’s unclear what first led officers to Burroughs’ house two blocks away. The unmarked vehicle was registered under a fake name, a common practice, said Mallard, the trooper commander, in May.

When police found Burroughs just before 7 p.m. outside his home, he was still in the driver’s seat of the Explorer with his chin on his chest, charges say. The SUV had just slammed into Burroughs’ own Toyota 4Runner, according to a police report.

The Explorer’s front license plate was missing, the charges say.

The court papers say Burroughs’ eyes were closed. He only responded to police when they shook him. He was unable to perform field sobriety tests, according to the charging document.

An ambulance drove Burroughs to a hospital. After police received a search warrant for his blood, a technician drew two vials for testing at about 10:50 p.m., the charges say.

A later analysis showed more than 0.40 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, according to the court documents. The legal limit to drive is 0.08.

“By anybody’s standards, that’s a lot of alcohol on board,” said Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew, who spoke briefly about the case Tuesday.

Asked why the charges came eight weeks after police say they first found Burroughs intoxicated inside the trooper vehicle, Mew said the case hinged on lab results.

“The nature of the evidence, plus the follow-up work necessary, plus (a) change of command (at OSPA) I think all added up to making this case take a little bit longer to get through the system,” he said.

Burroughs was on the job the day of the collisions but off duty when the crashes occurred, Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Robert Gorder said in May.

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Illegal Immigrant Worked As Anchorage Alaska Police Officer For 6 Years… Mexican Used Identity Of U.S. Citizen, Caught When Applying For A Passport

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – An Anchorage police officer who took on a false identity that masked his Mexican citizenship has been arrested and charged with passport fraud, federal officials said today.

At a news conference Friday, U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler said that patrolman Rafael Espinoza, on the Anchorage police force for about six years, was really Rafael Mora-Lopez, a Mexican national working in the United States illegally.

The identity swap was discovered when the police officer applied for a U.S. passport and officials from the State Department found that the Rafael Espinoza identity he was using was actually someone else in the Lower 48, Loeffler said.

Mora-Lopez, 51, was arrested Thursday and is being arraigned before a U.S. Magistrate Judge this afternoon. Loeffler declined to say when Mora-Lopez entered the United States and where he has been since then. But she said he didn’t appear to be part of a larger conspiracy.

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“We have no evidence at this time that this individual had been anything but a good police officer,” Loeffler said. The real Espinoza also has a clean record, she said.

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Alaska Airlines Pilots Overreact To Three Praying Orthodox Jews – Leading To Involvement Of FBI, Customs, Police, And Fire Crews

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – Pilots on an Alaska Airlines flight locked down the cockpit and alerted authorities after three passengers conducted an elaborate orthodox Jewish prayer ritual during their Los Angeles-bound flight.

Airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan says the crew of Flight 241 from Mexico City became alarmed Sunday after the men began the ritual, which involves tying leather straps and small wooden boxes to the body.

FBI and customs agents, along with police and fire crews, met the plane at the gate at Los Angeles International Airport.

Airport police say two or three men were escorted off the plane, questioned by the FBI, and released. No arrests were made.

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Alaska Lawmaker Stands Up To Crazed TSA Agents – Refuses Pat-Down After Full Body Scan Reveals Mastectomy

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — An Alaskan state lawmaker is returning home by sea after refusing a pat-down search at a Seattle airport, a spokeswoman said..

Rep. Sharon Cissna underwent a body scan as she was preparing to leave Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Sunday and was then required to undergo the pat-down by Transportation Safety Administration officials, said Michelle Scannell, her chief of staff.

Scannell said that TSA called for the pat-down because the scan showed Cissna had had a mastectomy. But it wasn’t immediately clear from statements by the lawmaker’s office and TSA why that would necessitate the further search.

Scannell described the pat-down search as “intrusive,” but did not elaborate on the Anchorage Democrat’s decision.

TSA spokesman Kwika Riley was asked to respond to Cissna’s comments when contacted by The Associated Press. But a general statement issued later did not mention her or her claims, saying the agency is “sensitive to the concerns of passengers who were not satisfied with their screening experience and we invite those individuals to provide feedback to TSA.”

Both full body scanners and pat-down searches have come under increasing criticism as the TSA has stepped up its airport security measures.

Cissna, who had undergone medical treatment in Seattle, is traveling by ferry from Seattle to Juneau, Scannell said.

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Department Of Justice Investigated After Botched Case And Kangaroo Trial Of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens – Gross Misconduct

WASHINGTON, DC – The bungled trial of former GOP Sen. Ted Stevens tainted more than just the Justice Department. It probably tipped the balance of a close election, and the fallout from that is far from over.

Stevens, the 85-year-old patriarch of Alaska politics, is headed to court Tuesday, when a judge is expected to grant Attorney General Eric Holder’s request to dismiss the case and toss out Stevens’ conviction.

Within the department, the Stevens case could have far-ranging implications. The prosecution team, including the top two officials in the public integrity section, faces an internal investigation.

The FBI has 2,500 pending corruption investigations across the country, and whether the targets are lawmakers or suspected crooked government inspectors, prosecutors may be more cautious in bringing charges after the Stevens debacle.

A jury convicted Stevens of lying about gifts and home renovations provided by an Alaska businessman.

Stevens beat the charges, but lost his job. In that, he’s not alone.

In Puerto Rico last year, prosecutors filed a new indictment against Democratic Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila three months before the election. He lost the race, but a jury found him not guilty of all charges.

The prosecution “certainly smacked of political motivation,” argued Acevedo’s lawyer, Thomas Green.

Such accusations are not new from defense lawyers in corruption cases. But they have far more bite when the politicians charged ultimately win in court after having lost their careers.

In Wisconsin in 2006, prosecutors indicted a little-known state worker for allegedly helping contributors to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle get a contract. The worker, Georgia Thompson, was sentenced to prison two months before the election.

After the election – which Doyle won – an appeals court not only overturned her conviction, but ordered her immediately freed from prison. One appeals court judge described the evidence against Thompson as “beyond thin.”

During the Bush administration, Democrats claimed the conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was pushed by politically minded Republicans.

Siegelman, who was sent to prison in 2007 for bribery and corruption, was freed last year on bond. An appeals court recently dismissed some, but not all the charges and ordered him resentenced. His lawyer is asking the attorney general to toss out the case entirely, just like in the Stevens case.

Holder, a former corruption prosecutor, is also facing calls to overhaul the public integrity section.

In announcing his decision on Stevens, he said the department “must always ensure that any case in which it is involved is handled fairly and consistent with its commitment to justice.”

Joseph diGenova, a former federal prosecutor, said federal prosecutors suffer from “a lack of supervision.”

“I’m a great fan of prosecutors, but the department and the U.S. attorneys offices in my opinion have been out of control,” diGenova said.

In Stevens’ case, Holder decided to pull the plug after prosecutors withheld notes of an interview with a crucial witness. The notes would have contradicted damaging testimony the witness gave against Stevens.

To diGenova, it was one of the worst examples of prosecutors caring more about winning a case than finding justice, and further proof of what he called incredible arrogance of many lawyers in the department.

“This was, in essence, a framing of a senator. That doesn’t mean he’s pure as the driven snow, but they were going to convict him no matter what,” the lawyer said. “They changed the balance of power in the United States Senate. That ought to be a crime.”

Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. A week before the 2008 election, a jury found him guilty on seven felony counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from a wealthy oil contractor.

After the conviction, Stevens lost to Democrat Mark Begich by fewer than 4,000 votes. Begich has rejected calls from Alaska Republicans, including Gov. Sarah Palin, for him to resign in order to have a new election for the seat.

When he took the job of attorney general, Holder pledged to remove any political considerations from the department’s work after a slew of investigations into alleged partisan meddling during the Bush years.

Those accusations were initially driven by the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in late 2006, and culminated with the ouster of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.

Yet it was the Republican administration that filed the case against the Republican Stevens, and it was their Democratic successors who dropped it.

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Department Of Justice Investigated After Botched Case And Kangaroo Trial Of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens – Gross Misconduct

WASHINGTON, DC – The bungled trial of former GOP Sen. Ted Stevens tainted more than just the Justice Department. It probably tipped the balance of a close election, and the fallout from that is far from over.

Stevens, the 85-year-old patriarch of Alaska politics, is headed to court Tuesday, when a judge is expected to grant Attorney General Eric Holder’s request to dismiss the case and toss out Stevens’ conviction.

Within the department, the Stevens case could have far-ranging implications. The prosecution team, including the top two officials in the public integrity section, faces an internal investigation.

The FBI has 2,500 pending corruption investigations across the country, and whether the targets are lawmakers or suspected crooked government inspectors, prosecutors may be more cautious in bringing charges after the Stevens debacle.

A jury convicted Stevens of lying about gifts and home renovations provided by an Alaska businessman.

Stevens beat the charges, but lost his job. In that, he’s not alone.

In Puerto Rico last year, prosecutors filed a new indictment against Democratic Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila three months before the election. He lost the race, but a jury found him not guilty of all charges.

The prosecution “certainly smacked of political motivation,” argued Acevedo’s lawyer, Thomas Green.

Such accusations are not new from defense lawyers in corruption cases. But they have far more bite when the politicians charged ultimately win in court after having lost their careers.

In Wisconsin in 2006, prosecutors indicted a little-known state worker for allegedly helping contributors to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle get a contract. The worker, Georgia Thompson, was sentenced to prison two months before the election.

After the election – which Doyle won – an appeals court not only overturned her conviction, but ordered her immediately freed from prison. One appeals court judge described the evidence against Thompson as “beyond thin.”

During the Bush administration, Democrats claimed the conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was pushed by politically minded Republicans.

Siegelman, who was sent to prison in 2007 for bribery and corruption, was freed last year on bond. An appeals court recently dismissed some, but not all the charges and ordered him resentenced. His lawyer is asking the attorney general to toss out the case entirely, just like in the Stevens case.

Holder, a former corruption prosecutor, is also facing calls to overhaul the public integrity section.

In announcing his decision on Stevens, he said the department “must always ensure that any case in which it is involved is handled fairly and consistent with its commitment to justice.”

Joseph diGenova, a former federal prosecutor, said federal prosecutors suffer from “a lack of supervision.”

“I’m a great fan of prosecutors, but the department and the U.S. attorneys offices in my opinion have been out of control,” diGenova said.

In Stevens’ case, Holder decided to pull the plug after prosecutors withheld notes of an interview with a crucial witness. The notes would have contradicted damaging testimony the witness gave against Stevens.

To diGenova, it was one of the worst examples of prosecutors caring more about winning a case than finding justice, and further proof of what he called incredible arrogance of many lawyers in the department.

“This was, in essence, a framing of a senator. That doesn’t mean he’s pure as the driven snow, but they were going to convict him no matter what,” the lawyer said. “They changed the balance of power in the United States Senate. That ought to be a crime.”

Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. A week before the 2008 election, a jury found him guilty on seven felony counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms to conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from a wealthy oil contractor.

After the conviction, Stevens lost to Democrat Mark Begich by fewer than 4,000 votes. Begich has rejected calls from Alaska Republicans, including Gov. Sarah Palin, for him to resign in order to have a new election for the seat.

When he took the job of attorney general, Holder pledged to remove any political considerations from the department’s work after a slew of investigations into alleged partisan meddling during the Bush years.

Those accusations were initially driven by the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in late 2006, and culminated with the ouster of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.

Yet it was the Republican administration that filed the case against the Republican Stevens, and it was their Democratic successors who dropped it.

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Federal Prosecutors Botched Case Against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens – Conviction Reversed, Charges Dismissed

ALASKA – The Justice Department will drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, NPR has learned.

A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, however, he lost his bid for an eighth full term in office just days after he was convicted. Since then, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing and prompted defense motions for a new trial.

According to Justice Department officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to drop the case against Stevens rather than continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from the actions of prosecutors.

The judge in the Stevens case has repeatedly delayed sentencing and criticized trial prosecutors for what he’s called prosecutorial misconduct. At one point, prosecutors were held in contempt. Things got so bad that the Justice Department finally replaced the trial team, including top-ranking officials in the office of public integrity. That’s the department’s section charged with prosecuting public corruption cases.

With more ugly hearings expected, Holder is said to have decided late Tuesday to pull the plug. Stevens’ lawyers are expected to be informed Wednesday morning that the department will dismiss the indictment against the former senator.

Holder’s decision is said to be based on Stevens’ age — he’s 85 — and because Stevens is no longer in the Senate. Perhaps most importantly, Justice Department officials say Holder wants to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.

Holder began his career in the department’s public integrity section; and, according to sources, he was horrified by the failure of prosecutors to turn over all relevant materials to the defense.

The attorney general also knows the trial judge, Emmett Sullivan, well. The two men served together as judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before each was promoted to higher office.

Holder respects Sullivan and reportedly has watched with growing alarm as Sullivan repeatedly has scolded prosecutors for failing to follow his judicial orders to fully inform defense lawyers about everything from potentially favorable evidence to the travel plans of witnesses. During the trial, prosecutorial missteps led to the judge instructing the jury to disregard some evidence.

Sentencing has been repeatedly delayed. By last month, it was playing a back seat to charges of prosecutorial misconduct — as a whistle-blowing FBI agent made complaints about improper conduct by a fellow agent and prosecutors. With a hearing scheduled in two weeks to explore those charges, Holder decided to review the case himself.

Justice Department officials say they will withdraw their opposition to the defense motion for a new trial and will dismiss the indictment — in effect voiding the Stevens conviction.

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Federal Prosecutors Botched Case Against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens – Conviction Reversed, Charges Dismissed

ALASKA – The Justice Department will drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, NPR has learned.

A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, however, he lost his bid for an eighth full term in office just days after he was convicted. Since then, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing and prompted defense motions for a new trial.

According to Justice Department officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to drop the case against Stevens rather than continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from the actions of prosecutors.

The judge in the Stevens case has repeatedly delayed sentencing and criticized trial prosecutors for what he’s called prosecutorial misconduct. At one point, prosecutors were held in contempt. Things got so bad that the Justice Department finally replaced the trial team, including top-ranking officials in the office of public integrity. That’s the department’s section charged with prosecuting public corruption cases.

With more ugly hearings expected, Holder is said to have decided late Tuesday to pull the plug. Stevens’ lawyers are expected to be informed Wednesday morning that the department will dismiss the indictment against the former senator.

Holder’s decision is said to be based on Stevens’ age — he’s 85 — and because Stevens is no longer in the Senate. Perhaps most importantly, Justice Department officials say Holder wants to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.

Holder began his career in the department’s public integrity section; and, according to sources, he was horrified by the failure of prosecutors to turn over all relevant materials to the defense.

The attorney general also knows the trial judge, Emmett Sullivan, well. The two men served together as judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before each was promoted to higher office.

Holder respects Sullivan and reportedly has watched with growing alarm as Sullivan repeatedly has scolded prosecutors for failing to follow his judicial orders to fully inform defense lawyers about everything from potentially favorable evidence to the travel plans of witnesses. During the trial, prosecutorial missteps led to the judge instructing the jury to disregard some evidence.

Sentencing has been repeatedly delayed. By last month, it was playing a back seat to charges of prosecutorial misconduct — as a whistle-blowing FBI agent made complaints about improper conduct by a fellow agent and prosecutors. With a hearing scheduled in two weeks to explore those charges, Holder decided to review the case himself.

Justice Department officials say they will withdraw their opposition to the defense motion for a new trial and will dismiss the indictment — in effect voiding the Stevens conviction.

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