WASHINGTON — The corruption trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens began Thursday with sharply divergent portraits of the long-serving Republican.
In opening statements in the highly anticipated case, prosecutors accused Stevens of using his experience in the ways of Washington to "fly under the radar screen" and flout Senate rules requiring the disclosure of gifts and favors.
"This is a simple case about a public official who took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free financial benefits, and then took away the public right to know that information," Brenda Morris, the lead Justice Department attorney on the case, told jurors.
But a lawyer for Stevens described a lawmaker who was so focused on his duties that he paid scant attention to financial matters and often deferred to his wife and others. The so-called gifts he got were often unwanted and gratuitous, and if they were never disclosed, it was only because he considered them a nuisance or worthless, the lawyer, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., argued.
"Why all of a sudden, in his 75th year, did he decide to go out and become a criminal?" Sullivan asked. "The evidence will show that he did not file false statements."
Sullivan said the evidence would also include character testimony from Stevens' Senate colleagues.
He listed several who might be called as witnesses, including Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).
Stevens, who was seated among a battery of lawyers at the counsel table in court, is accused of knowingly and repeatedly filing financial reports with the Senate between 2000 and 2006 that understated or omitted gifts or other benefits that he got from an oil executive and others.
Among the unreported benefits: an overhaul on his residence in Girdwood, Alaska; freebies including a sled dog and a $2,700 massage chair; and a sweetheart deal on a $44,000 Land Rover.
The government contends that Stevens never paid for more than $200,000 in labor and materials for the remodel supplied by a now-defunct oil field services firm, VECO Corp. VECO's former chief executive, Bill J. Allen, allegedly showered Stevens with other perks.
"VECO acted as his own personal handyman service," Morris said. "If the defendant needed an electrician, he would contact VECO. If he needed a plumber, he would contact VECO."
"We reach for the Yellow Pages," Morris told the jury. "He reached for VECO."
