Testimony ends in Sen. Ted Stevens corruption trial
Prosecutors say he failed to report gifts received from friends and contractors. He says the items are loans, even though they're still in his homes.
WASHINGTON -- Testimony in the corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens concluded today, with a Justice Department attorney trying to undermine the credibility of the Alaska Republican by questioning why he didn't return items of value that friends had left at his homes in Washington and Alaska.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said closing arguments by the government and Stevens' lawyers would be heard Tuesday; Sullivan indicated that the federal jury would begin deliberations Wednesday. Stevens is charged with failing to disclose more than $250,000 in home improvements and gifts, including a gas grill, bronze art work and a reclining massage chair, to the Senate.
Public integrity attorney Brenda Morris repeatedly challenged Stevens on the witness stand today, saying his explanation that the items in question were not gifts, even though they remained at his homes, was not plausible.
Morris asked Stevens about a $2,700 Brookstone massage chair that was delivered to his home in Washington in 2001. Stevens has taken the position that the chair was a loan from a friend. But he acknowledged on cross-examination that it remains in his home to this day.
"How is that not a gift?" Morris asked.
"We have lots of things in our house that don't belong to us, ma'am," Stevens replied. Asked later what these things included, Stevens said they included items owned by his daughter and friends of his wife, Catherine. Stevens also said it was not practical to ship the chair back to the owner, who lived in Alaska.
Stevens said the status of the massage chair was not unlike that of a Viking gas grill that an Alaskan oilman, Bill J. Allen, had delivered to the Stevens home in Girdwood, Alaska, after the renovation was complete in 2001. The government alleges that the grill was a gift to Stevens. The lawmaker says the grill is still owned by Allen, even though it remains on the deck of the home; he has also said that he and his wife never use it.
Allen and Stevens were long-time social companions, although Allen, who is alleged to have made the free home improvements and other gifts that Stevens failed to report, was the star prosecution witness at the trial.
Morris also asked Stevens today about other furniture that Allen delivered to the Alaska home. Stevens has said that he was unaware that he was getting the furniture, and that in any event, he did not like it. He has testified that Allen also removed the existing furniture in the home.
