The Senate unanimously confirmed Mueller as FBI director on August 2, 2001. In May 2011, President Barack Obama asked Mueller to continue at the helm of the FBI for two additional years beyond his normal 10-year term, which would have expired on September 4, 2011.
Robert Mueller was the head of the FBI in 2008 and his responsibility to oversee this high profile case against a Senator.
On April 7, 2009, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia unleashed his fury before a packed courtroom. For 14 minutes, he scolded. He chastised. He fumed. “In nearly 25 years on the bench,” he said, “I’ve never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I’ve seen in this case.”
Stevens was convicted in October 2008 of violating federal ethics laws by failing to report thousands of dollars in gifts he received from friends. But a team of prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice is accused of failing to hand over key exculpatory evidence and knowingly presenting false evidence to the jury.
For months Judge Sullivan had warned U.S. prosecutors about their repeated failure to turn over evidence. Then, after the jury convicted Stevens, the Justice Department discovered previously unrevealed evidence. Meanwhile, a prosecution witness and an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) came forward alleging prosecutorial misconduct. Finally, newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that he had had enough and recommended that the seven-count conviction against the former Alaska senator be dismissed.
On April 7, Judge Sullivan did just that. But he was far from done.
In an extraordinarily rare move, he ordered an inquiry into the prosecutors’ handling of the case. Judge Sullivan insisted that the misconduct allegations were “too serious and too numerous” to be left to an internal Justice Department investigation. He appointed Washington lawyer Henry F. Schuelke III of Janis, Schuelke & Wechsler to investigate whether members of the trial team should be prosecuted for criminal contempt.
Both sides fought over the meaning of an October 2002 letter from Stevens to Allen asking for a bill.
The letter read: When I think of the many ways in which you make my life easier and more enjoyable, I lose count! Thanks for all the work on the Chalet. You owe me a bill—remember Torricelli, my friend. Friendship is one thing—compliance with the ethics rules entirely different. I asked Bob P to talk to you about this, so don’t get PO’d at him–it’s [sic] just has to be done right.
Torricelli was a reference to Robert Torricelli, the former Democratic U.S. congressman and senator from New Jersey who was accused of receiving illicit gifts from a campaign donor.
Allen testified at trial that the note was Stevens’ effort of “covering his ass.” Allen said on the stand that he had been told by Stevens’ friend Bob Persons to ignore the letter because the senator had written it to provide a false record to protect himself.
“That was a devastating piece of testimony delivered right before a break, as skillful lawyers do,” Cary says. “As bad luck would have it, a juror got sick that afternoon, which meant that that testimony was left to resonate with the jury for several days.”
Brady Battles
As any law student knows, prosecutors must disclose any potentially exculpatory evidence to the defendant in a case. The so-called Brady Rule stems from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1963 decision in Brady v. Maryland.
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