Prosecutors hope to show that Stevens regularly received gifts and other considerations without adequate disclosure, and that his actions in failing to report the improvements on his home were neither isolated nor innocent events.
The government has signaled, for example, that it intends to show how Stevens made a questionable $100,000 six-month profit in 2001 in a Florida condo deal in which he put up just $5,000. Prosecutors may also raise whether he failed to properly disclose receipt of a $29,000 bronzed sculpture of migrating salmon that they say has been sitting on the front porch of his Girdwood home.
Stevens' lawyers have objected, arguing that such evidence, which was not part of the indictment, is prejudicial.
Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia University's law school, said that although it may seem unfair to force a defendant to explain such actions, federal evidence rules are more liberal when the defense is based on lack of criminal intent, as is the case here.
The rules permit courts to "expand the frame of evidence . . . to get a better sense of what was going through his head," Richman said.
So far, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has sided with prosecutors in pretrial rulings on such issues, although he has deferred action on some of their requests.
The bulk of the gifts in question came from a now-defunct oil services company, VECO Corp., and its former chief executive, Bill J. Allen, prosecutors contend. VECO employees led the renovation of the senator's home, and invoices for the work were processed through Allen before being sent to Stevens.
Allen pleaded guilty last year to providing more than $400,000 in corrupt payments to Alaska state officials. He has been cooperating with federal authorities and is expected to be the prosecution's star witness.
Stevens' lawyers are expected to attack Allen's credibility on a number of grounds. Among other things, they have subpoenaed his medical records from a 2001 motorcycle accident in an attempt to determine whether the crash, which caused head injuries, affected his memory. They have also asked for records of a 2004 investigation into an accusation -- which Allen denies and for which he was never charged -- that he had sex with an underage girl in the 1990s.
Jurors may also hear from Robert Persons, owner of a Girdwood restaurant and a longtime friend of Stevens and his wife, Catherine. Persons reportedly filed the city permits for the remodeling of Stevens' home and monitored the project's progress when the couple was not around.
It was Persons who was recorded telling Allen that spending his own money made Stevens hysterical.
At a hearing Thursday, prosecutors said jurors should hear that conversation because it was evidence that the men were engaged in a joint enterprise to enrich Stevens. Stevens' lawyers objected, saying the talk pertained to an unrelated racehorse syndicate in which the three were investors.
Sullivan did not immediately rule.
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rick.schmitt@latimes.com
