Earlier this week (Mon 11-21-11) US District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan announced that he would not pursue criminal contempt charges against the Justice Department lawyers who prepared the government’s case against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens three years ago.
Nevertheless, Sullivan had some strong words for the Justice Department legal team. Referring to a 500-page report prepared by the special counsel he had ordered to look into the matter, Sullivan wrote that the investigation and prosecution of Sen. Stevens were “permeated by the systematic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence.”
Former Sitka municipal attorney Cliff Groh attended all five weeks of the Stevens trial. His blog, “Alaska Political Corruption,” was an important source of analysis for media covering the trial. Groh himself appeared on C-SPAN and elsewhere to discuss the complex issues in the case.
Now Groh wonders when and how the 500-page report will be released, and what light it may shed on figures like VECO CEO Bill Allen (and his reportedly sordid sex life), and what leverage federal prosecutors may have used to transform Sen. Stevens’ one-time confidante into the government’s star witness.
KCAW’s Robert Woolsey spoke with Groh over the phone from his home in Anchorage.
Cliff Groh was Sitka’s municipal attorney from 2000 to 2005. He’s now a lawyer in private practice in Anchorage, where he writes the “Alaska Political Corruption” blog.
