Ted Stevens | featured news

A blistering new report reveals details about the intentional mishandling of evidence and other missteps by Justice Department attorneys in the flawed prosecution of then-Sen. Ted Stevens.

A court-appointed investigator has found that the high-profile prosecution of the late Senator Ted Stevens was “permeated” by the prosecutors’ “serious, widespread and at times intentional” illegal concealment of evidence that would have helped Mr. Stevens defend himself at his 2008 trial, a federal judge disclosed on Monday.

Nicholas A. Marsh, a Justice Department lawyer, was one of a team of officials under investigation for their conduct in the corruption case against former Senator Ted Stevens.

Ted Stevens, the temperamental, powerful politician who helped secure statehood for Alaska and won billions of dollars in federal largesse for the region in 40 years as its U.S. senator, died in a small-plane crash in the rugged, fog-shrouded hills above Bristol Bay in Alaska, authorities said Tuesday.

Rescuers held back overnight by high winds and low clouds managed on Tuesday to reach a downed plane in southwest Alaska that had been carrying former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.

After a new instance of prosecutorial misconduct was discovered, the Justice Department moved to drop ethics charges against Ted Stevens on Wednesday.