Witness against Sen. Stevens says prosecutors coached him to mislead

Washington Times:

The tents have been packed up after the circuslike trial of Sen. Ted Stevens, but the sideshows continue to play.

More than a month after the Alaska Republican was convicted on seven felony counts of failing to disclose more than $250,000 he received in gifts and renovations to his Girdwood home, one of the case's more-vexing and colorful figures now claims he committed perjury on the witness stand and charges a murder-for-hire plot against him by another witness.

The assertions made Friday by David Anderson provide the latest bizarre twists in a case in which prosecutors already have been chided for concealing evidence, witnesses have contradicted themselves, and the jurors tried to get one member off the panel while another lied about her father dying in order to ditch the trial.

Mr. Anderson, who performed some of the home renovations at the heart of the case, initially said in an affidavit that there was an immunity deal between himself and prosecutors. During the trial, he testified that his affidavit was false and that there was no such deal. Now he says that his testimony was a lie and the prosecutors knew it.

If true and proven, these actions would count as the prosecution suborning perjury and could provide grounds for overturning the Stevens conviction.

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This has been a trouble prosecution from the beginning. It is hard to say whether the witness's current statements are true but they certainly impeach his credibility as a witness and may be grounds for a new trial. If that happens, Stevens would be wise not to take the stand again. He was in better shape before he testified than after.