Stevens accusers now the accused

A federal judge on Tuesday turned the tables on the prosecutors who tried to jail former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, commencing a criminal investigation that could put the very people charged with enforcing the law behind bars.

The stunning rebuke of the Justice Department came as Judge Emmet Sullivan threw out the case against Mr. Stevens, citing repeated revelations of prosecutorial misconduct, most involving failures to turn over evidence.

“For nearly 25 years, I've told defendants appearing before me that in my courtroom they will receive a fair trial and I will make sure of it,” Judge Sullivan said. “In nearly 25 years on the bench, I have never seen anything approaching the mishandling and the misconduct I have seen in this case.”

The case began as the first prosecution of a sitting U.S. senator in more than a generation, but has become historic for very different reasons.

The judge appointed Henry F. Schuelke III, a respected private lawyer who has worked as a prosecutor and ethics counsel, to investigate suspected charges of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice by the prosecutors. Such an appointment has been made only a few times in the past 25 years, one former prosecutor said.

Several defense lawyers interviewed by The Washington Times said the conduct by out-of-control prosecutors, exposed most dramatically in the Stevens case, has been endemic throughout the Justice Department for the past decade.

Judge Sullivan also called “shocking, but not surprising,” revelations that three letters outlining problems with the case that Mr. Stevens' defense team sent to former Attorney General Michael Mukasey went unanswered.

He said he has heard nothing about a 6-month-old internal Justice Department investigation that began at the first sign of trouble with the case, which involved two complete prosecution teams. The second team, led by Paul O'Brien, repeatedly revealed misconduct by the first team, at whom Judge Sullivan's investigation is aimed.

“The events and allegations in this case are too serious and numerous to be left to an internal investigation that has no outside accountability,” the judge said. “This court has an independent obligation to ensure that any misconduct is fully investigated and addressed in an appropriate public forum.”

He ordered Mr. Schuelke to investigate William M. Welch II, head of the Justice Department's corruption-fighting Public Integrity Section; Brenda K. Morris, the Public Integrity Section's principal deputy; and two lawyers from the section, Nicholas A. Marsh and Edward P. Sullivan. Two assistant U.S. attorneys from Alaska - Joseph W. Bottini and James A. Goeke - are also under investigation.

All six remain on the job.

“I think over time [Judge Sullivan] lost confidence in the department to police itself,” said Barry J. Pollack, a white-collar defense lawyer who is not involved in the case.

The judge wasn't the only one.

“Until recently, my faith in the criminal system, particularly the judicial system, was unwavering,” Mr. Stevens said in court. “But what some members of the prosecution team did nearly destroyed my faith. Their conduct had consequences for me that they will never realize and can never be reversed.”

Mr. Stevens, who served as a Republican in the Senate longer than anyone else in the chamber's history, lost a tight re-election race last fall, mere days after he was convicted of failing to disclose more than $250,000 he received in gifts and home renovations.

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