Via The Moderate (snicker) Voice, we learn through Bloomberg
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens’s bid for a seventh term may be decided by 12 people he has never met in a courthouse thousands of miles away from his home state of Alaska.
Jury selection in the Stevens trial gets under way tomorrow in Washington after the prospective jurors complete questionnaires. The trial could last a month or more, concluding just days before U.S. election on Nov. 4.
The longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, Stevens was indicted in July for failing to report gifts from an Alaska oil-services company. He demanded speedy justice in an effort to clear his name.
Two points
1. It’s nice to see that some people get the Constitutional measure to a speedy trial faster then everyone else. Can you imagine how fast you would have a gotten a trial if you asked? Probably would have been June 2009, with the government saying they weren’t ready, and a judge agreeing, despite that being irrelevant to the Constitution.
2. Yes, Stevens asked for the trial to start quickly, but, it is September 2008. William Jefferson (D-La) was indicted over 14 months ago. He was caught cold with bribe money in his freezer. As Renew America wrote in March 2008: The question is: When will the Attorney General get around to actually prosecuting Jefferson? What’s delaying his detention and trial? The man continues to hold office with all its perks, yet the DOJ appears hesitant to move forward with their prosecution of a flagrantly corrupt lawmaker.
The answer is that the trial is set to start December 2nd, if it is not postponed due to legal rangling from Jefferson’s attorneys, who have been making the claim that boils down to “Jefferson is in Congress, so, the law doesn’t apply to him.”
Meanwhile, while The Moderate Voice complains about Stevens’ having a good chance of keeping his Senate seat, woops, so does Cold Cash Jefferson. For a second time. Which they very briefly mention.
