Ted Stevens, Longtime Alaska Senator, Dies at 86
Ted Stevens, the former United States senator who was killed Monday night in a plane crash at the age of 86, helped shape modern Alaska with federal laws and billions in federal dollars.
Serving in the Senate for 40 years, longer than any other Republican, he was known as a fierce and often hot-tempered advocate for his state.
But that long and productive Senate career ended ignominiously. In October 2008, a federal jury in the District of Columbia found that Mr. Stevens had concealed more than $250,000 in gifts and convicted him on seven felony counts. Eight days later, he lost a bid for a seventh term to Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, a Democrat.
The following April, however, the conviction was thrown out by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan at the request of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Mr. Holder said prosecutors, who had been chided by the judge for withholding information from the defense, had concealed interview notes in which the chief witness against Mr. Stevens told a story different from the one he told on the stand....
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Serving in the Senate for 40 years, longer than any other Republican, he was known as a fierce and often hot-tempered advocate for his state.
But that long and productive Senate career ended ignominiously. In October 2008, a federal jury in the District of Columbia found that Mr. Stevens had concealed more than $250,000 in gifts and convicted him on seven felony counts. Eight days later, he lost a bid for a seventh term to Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, a Democrat.
The following April, however, the conviction was thrown out by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan at the request of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Mr. Holder said prosecutors, who had been chided by the judge for withholding information from the defense, had concealed interview notes in which the chief witness against Mr. Stevens told a story different from the one he told on the stand....