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Ted Stevens completes three days of testimony on corruption charges
By Matt Apuzzo
and Jesse J. Holland
Associated Press
Published on Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008
WASHINGTON: Jurors were offered conflicting views of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens during a four-week corruption trial: a cantankerous but credible senator who didn't know he was being lavished with free gifts, or a sour-faced, scheming one who thought he knew how to quietly get freebies.
Stevens completed three days of testimony Monday with lawyers still trying to convince jurors of their portrait of the longtime Republican lawmaker, who has been charged with lying on financial disclosure forms about $250,000 in renovations and other gifts he received from oil service VECO Corp.
Closing arguments are scheduled for today and jurors are to begin deliberating Wednesday.
Stevens has said he never sought gifts and wouldn't even accept a free lunch, much less the expensive remodeling services that changed his A-frame Girdwood, Alaska, cabin into a large, modern home with a sauna, wine cellar and wraparound porches. He and his wife, Catherine, paid for everything they knew of, Stevens said.
''Catherine paid for the work that was done at our house, she paid the bills and that's all there is to it,'' said Stevens, the last words he left with the jury before leaving the stand.
But prosecutors say he had a history of accepting gifts — including an expensive massage chair in his Washington, D.C., home — and omitting them from financial disclosure forms. Stevens has insisted repeatedly that the chair was a loan from a friend, although it has been in his house for seven years.
''How is that not a gift?'' Prosecutor Brenda Morris asked.
''He bought that chair as a gift, but I refused it as a gift,'' Stevens said. ''He put it there and said it was my chair. I told him I would not accept it as a gift. We have lots of things in our house that don't belong to us.''
Playing to the jury, Morris appeared confused. ''So, if you say it's not a gift, it's not a gift?'' she said.
''I refused it as a gift,'' Stevens replied. ''I let him put it in our basement at his request.''
Once an untouchable political force, Stevens faces a tough re-election fight and he's hoping for an acquittal before Election Day. Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, a Democrat, has sought to capitalize on Stevens' legal woes in the tight race.
Morris grilled Stevens repeatedly about things VECO founder Bill Allen added to the senator's Girdwood residence, including a new porch, a balcony, a fully stocked tool chest, a gas grill, a steel staircase, rope lighting, a generator and leather furniture.
Stevens has said he didn't ask for those things, and even tried to get Allen to take them away. Stevens added Monday that Allen, who has pleaded guilty to bribing state lawmakers, ''stole'' the furniture out of his cabin and replaced it with the leather furniture. The gifts and the Girdwood renovations are at the heart of Stevens' corruption trial.
WASHINGTON: Jurors were offered conflicting views of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens during a four-week corruption trial: a cantankerous but credible senator who didn't know he was being lavished with free gifts, or a sour-faced, scheming one who thought he knew how to quietly get freebies.
Get the full article here.
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