Jury hears secret Stevens tape-recording

Published: Oct. 6, 2008 at 7:09 PM
Order reprints
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) walks into the Senate Chamber in the Capitol in Washington for the first vote of the night on October 1, 2008. (UPI Photo/Yuri Gripas)
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) walks into the Senate Chamber in the Capitol in Washington for the first vote of the night on October 1, 2008. (UPI Photo/Yuri Gripas) | Enlarge Enlarge
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Indicted U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said he didn't think he had done anything wrong, tape-recordings played in a Washington courtroom Monday revealed.

In secretly recorded phone conversations, Stevens -- who is on trial for allegedly failing to disclose $250,000 in gifts and home renovations -- can be heard telling his friend, businessman Bill Allen, now a chief prosecution witness, that while he believed they were innocent they could expect to be fined and possibly serve jail time if found guilty, The Washington Post reported.

"They aren't going to shoot us. It's not Iraq," Stevens said on one call. "Hell, the worst that can happen to us, is that we run up a bunch of legal fees ... might pay a fine, may spend a little time in jail.

"I don't think we have done anything wrong. I can't think of a thing we have done is wrong."

Stevens' attorneys are seeking a mistrial, claiming they've found more evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. In a motion filed Sunday, his lawyers said material they received Friday at the order of U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan revealed what they said was "intentional misconduct" by the Justice Department to conceal information that would have helped prove Stevens' innocence, The New York Times reported Monday.

The judge had not yet ruled that their request.

Stevens, 84, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, is seeking re-election in November.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



MLB: Houston 9, Washington 4 (<1 min)
Many Chinese college graduates idle (3 min)
IEDs more common in Afghanistan (23 min)
Most physicians dislike working conditions (27 min)
UPI Sports Calendar for Friday, July 10 (27 min)
Tests can tell Alzheimer's from dementia (29 min)
Vickers wins NASCAR pole (38 min)
fark
Ugly-ass okapi born at Denver Zoo. In fact, "okapi" means "ugly-ass" in Swahili
If you find a live grenade in your newly purchased vehicle, you probably shouldn't wait a month...
Family tries to lure back lost dog by spraying their own urine all over town. They then want to...
"Oh damn." Obama caught blatantly ogling some of the nicer scenery at the G8 summit, while Sarkozy...
Photoshop this artistic smoker
Swami Baba Ramdev has challenged a landmark Indian court ruling legalising gay sex, claiming it...