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Stevens Witness: I Lied About Immunity Deal
A witness who testified against Ted Stevens has said in a letter to the judge that he falsely denied on the stand that he had an immunity deal with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony.
The witness, David Anderson, a welder who worked on the Alaska senator's home, wrote in the letter that his testimony that there was no immunity agreement "is simply not true". And he wrote that prosecutors "instructed me on how to sugar coat [the immunity deal] and get it swept under the rug during the trial."
The letter was filed today by defense lawyers.
Stevens was convicted on seven counts of having lied on his Senate disclosure forms about gifts he received from an oil-services contractor. Earlier this month, he lost his bid for re-election to the Senate.
Late Update: Anderson's letter contains more eyebrow-raising allegations than we'd first noted. He writes: "There was a contract to have me murdered issued by Bill and Mark Allen."
According to a report on the blog AlaskaDispatch, Anderson is Bill Allen's nephew, and Mark Allen is Bill Allen's son. Anderson clashed with Mark Allen, and therefore Bill Allen, over a woman. To protect his family, both from Bill Allen and from unspecified future charges, Anderson testified against Stevens, he told AlaskaDispatch's Tony Hopfinger, who has written for Bloomberg News and Newsweek.
So obviously, this news is being driven by a lot of different agendas, which we don't yet know enough to evaluate. And the specific details of the Anderson-Allen dispute aren't necessarily relevant. But the key point is that if there's compelling evidence that Anderson gave false testimony, or that prosecutors encouraged him to testify falsely or in a misleading manner, Stevens' conviction could potentially be put in doubt.
We'll keep you posted as things become clearer...
Late Late Update: DOJ has responded to Anderson's claims. AP reports:
The Justice Department responded quickly, saying the government never made any agreement of immunity for Anderson or any of his family or friends. "Mr. Anderson's statement in his November 2008 letter is not true, and the court is aware that it is not true," government lawyers said....
[T]he Justice Department said Anderson told two FBI agents in an August 13 meeting that he knew there was no immunity agreement and that the March affidavit was false.
The government agreed not to make him testify against family members, but "Anderson knew that there had been no agreement relative to immunity or promises of immunity by the government as to anyone," the Justice Department said.
Josh
Zachary
Wow. If true, not only would Stevens get off, but the prosecutors will face grievance proceedings and possibly face indictments themselves (suborning perjury springs to mind).
November 21, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
The letter is not at all credible. Read paragraph 5. "There was a contract to have me murdered . . ." Followed by an allegation that the government is not honoring their agreement to protect him. Look buddy, you said you didn't have a deal, now you say you did, but now they won't honor it?
Deal, or no deal?
He is all over the place and is clearly doing more than correcting his testimony. He is trying to sabotage the conviction. I wonder how much Stevens people are paying him.
November 21, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha, I'm glad you said that, I wouldn't have read into the second page if you hadn't pointed that out.
But really, if the Stevens people are paying him for this, it doesn't look like they're getting their money's worth.
November 21, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obviously the guy is a liar. So, why should anybody trust him this time?
November 21, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
The more you read that letter, the more it stinks. He says he would have "pleaded the fifth" if he didn't have an immunity agreement. What for? Did this guy say anything that implicated himself? I doubt it because he is apparently still a free man.
I can't tell if he is paranoid, feeling bad about testifying against uncle Ted, getting pressure from others to send this, or what. Could also be that he is scared of being prosecuted for something and wants some kind of deal after the fact. He doesn't say what it is he wants to be protected from, though, outside of being murdered by Bill and Mark Allen. It is bizarre.
Also, note the money paragraph, #7: Without the prosecution prepping me, I wouldn't have testified the way I did and "I believe this trial would have gone much differently."
I looked this guy up. He was merely a worker for Veco. There was some dispute about his hours on some time sheets.
November 21, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
sounds like stevens put him up to this to try and get the conviction overturned.
November 21, 2008 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
To protect his family, both from Bill Allen and from unspecified future charges, Anderson testified against Stevens
How was that supposed to work?
Sounds like it would just pissoff Allen.
November 21, 2008 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
In any case, I think this leads to a mistrial, one in which David Anderson, an important witness, can no longer be considered a credible witness in the next rial. Score one for Stevens.
November 21, 2008 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Trial's over, DaddyD. He can appeal, but there can't be a mistrial.
November 22, 2008 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I used to have one of those Western Exterminator guys with the hammer on a spring that they used to have on the back of their trucks. I had it mounted on a gray wood box. Not sure when I got rid of it. Brings back memories of my childhood in Los Angeles.
November 22, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Uncle Ted must really be afraid of his impending days in Leavenworth to concoct a bald-faced lie like this. Luckily the Repignofascist Party is filled with knuckle-draggers possessing an IQ slightly greater than a turnip who can be counted on to go forward with complete and total nonsense like this. Heckuva job, Uncle Ted.
November 21, 2008 6:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
This year's campaigns really brought home the perception that AK is full of whack jobs. But this turn towards a more literal reading of the phrase approaches being really jaw-dropping.
November 21, 2008 6:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is even more entertaining since he lost. Popcorn anyone?
November 21, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone else see "Book Deals" written all over this case....
November 21, 2008 7:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
In January of 2004, a prominent businessman named Joeseph Boehm was arrested by Anchorage Police.
From the February 10th 2004 edition of the Anchorage Daily News.....
XXXXXXXXXXX
In a police station restroom in December after his arrest on a crack cocaine charge, Anchorage businessman Josef F. Boehm teased an officer with a remarkable comment: He could, he suggested, tell police something about missing women in Anchorage.
According to transcripts of court proceedings, the officer, after hearing the remark, took Boehm to FBI headquarters downtown to talk to federal authorities, where Boehm went further: He said he might have information on two female torsos that washed up on Turnagain Arm shores last year.
Whether his claim was genuine or a bargaining ploy is not known. Police say they have not found a link between Boehm and the two dead women.
http://tinyurl.com/65mkas
XXXXXXXXXXXX
In 2003 two female torsos were discovered in Turnagain Arm, one of them only a mile from Boehm's residence. The other was found at Beluga Pt.
The Girdwood chalet which Bill Allen was using, courtesy of Ted Stevens, is in close proximity to both Boehm's house and the locations of where these torso's were found.
We know that Allen was capable of making a death threat against Anderson, and was likely able to carry it out without his fingerprints on it.
These two women fit the M.O. of the type of women Boehm was using.
Boehm and Allen were close business partners, Boehm the owner of Alaska Industrial Hardware, was a major supplier of tools and equipment for Allen's VECO.
Allen was also under investigation by APD for alleged dalliances with underage girls, a trait that he shared with Boehm.
Dismembered torso's don't wash up in Turnagain Arm everyday. Somebody was clearly sending a message, from who to whom though ?
If you drew a line from Boehm's Oceanview home to Steven's chalet, the chalet that Bill Allen was using, that line would intersect the location of where these torso's were found.
November 21, 2008 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't quite buy this. There is no exact science when dumping a torso in the water to know precisely where it will wash up. Definitely not certain enough to use the torsos to send a message to anyone, as they had just as good of a chance washing up somewhere entirely unintended. No, torso's are dumped in the water with the hope that they will wash up as far away from where the murder was committed in the first place if they wash up at all.
November 22, 2008 1:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Do you know Turnagain arm? Since it is a prime example of the lowest tides on earth, the "washing" that occurs is akin to a creek swelling a little in the mudflats.
Not that any of this has anything to do with Stevens.
November 22, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
This guy was "just a welder", maybe not too bright and maybe a little paranoid to boot. There's no reason for him to need "immunity", so of course he wasn't offered it. On the other hand, if investigators noticed his paranoia, he may have been given assurances that he and his family would not be investigated for any other transgressions. This letter will have no effect on the verdict. The judge will interview him, interview the prosecutors and conclude that the welder is just confused.
November 21, 2008 11:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
See the updates, he was more than just a welder, he's the nephew and cousin of the two principal bribers.
As to this leading to a mistrial, the loss of the welder's testimony maybe could have affected the jury's deliberation on things like the house renovation but I don't see how it could impact whether or not Stevens did or did not report receiving a massage chair as a gift on disclosure forms under his 'belief' that he was only storing the chair. My f-i-l knows Stevens and doesn't think he's a bad guy (he has differing views of Young and Murkowski), but Stevens clearly seems guilty of violating the law as written and should have tried to work out his own plea when he had the chance instead of clinging to power, which the voters of AK have rightly decided. Given his age and the service he provided to his constituents, I'm sure he could have worked out a deal where he wouldn't have served in any time in an actual prison, provided he did some house arrest and maybe half-way house time, and community service - AND RESIGNED HIS SEAT. Now he's lost the leverage of incumbency, and has seven jury convictions against him. He should put the tax payers first and stop running up the government's legal fees by working out a sentencing deal which limits his time in prison in return for dropping all appeals and cooperating in to get Young locked up.
November 22, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Dave the Welder wants a record deal like Joe the Plummer
November 22, 2008 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Make that Plumber
November 22, 2008 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Can we have AK back the way we used to have it, sans all the retarded drama? You know, some natural resources and couple of moronic TV shows on the History Channel, which were more than enough for me.
This stuff would have never made it past the editing floor of even "Ice Road Truckers" for crying out loud. It all sounds like an episode from the "Trailer Park Boys" show in Canada.
November 22, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reports are that Bill Allen is enjoying his $30 million fortune on a ranch in New Mexico.
Word here in Alaska is that Bill Allen was caught up in a scheme to give drugs to underage girls and have sex with them, (google Alaska Industrial Hardware's aka AIH former President Boehm) and that Allen opening his pandora's box of political connections was done to avoid federal prosecution on the sex/young girls/drugs thing.
In case anyone isn't familiar AIH is a major tool/material supplier for all things construction in Alaska, as VECO was one of the largest construction companies here also.
"Testimony in Boehm hearing laced with sex, drugs
SENTENCING: Businessman pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, faces up to 11 years in prison."
http://www.adn.com/politics/story/154882.html
I've been saying there is something really really hinky about this prosecution.
The frienemies that McCain and Stevens are (McCain's opposition to opening ANWR and union-busting legislative efforts to name two) and the timing of the Palin pick stink like rotten fish to me.
Sad as hell, we lose Stevens (who is not perfect) but did the job Alaskans sent him to do and gain the high queen of idiocracy in his place - Sarah Palin, who still hasn't bothered to show up for her day job as the price of oil crashes and unemployment gets to 7.4% in Alaska.
Palin's rise to reach the level of her incompetence was due to her finger pointing at anyone who disagrees with her as 'corrupt'.
November 22, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Found another article:
"Allen teen sex inquiry reopened
BAMBI: Police look into claim ex-Veco boss had sex with underage girl."
http://www.adn.com/news/government/veco/story/303216.html
But when federal prosecutors asked Anchorage police to suspend the investigation shortly after it began, the department complied, he said.
Ugly stuff. Ugly enough perhaps to create a massive smokescreen of a political corruption case of a major U.S. Republican Senator.
I'm just sayin...
November 22, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I were a betting man I'd say that the odds are good that these bodies are tied to Boehm and Allen.
There are other odd coincidences too, probably not directly tied to this particular angle of the story, but relevant and relatively unknown nonetheless.
William Large, the legal counsel for the Republican Party of Alaska, is married to a woman named Kim Rich.
Kim Rich is the daughter of infamous Alaskan underworld kingpin, Johnny Rich, you can read her story, Johnny's Girl or watch the made-for-TV movie by the same name.
Johnny Rich was murdered in a massage parlor that he owned, the name of it was Cindy's Massage Parlor.
Many years later, Cindy's Massage Parlor was the campaign headquarters for Congressman Don Young.
The name of the bar where VECO's Rick Smith was laundering his money for Don's golf tournaments is called the Buckaroo Club. Immediately next door, attached to the same building, was an escort agency called the Ravenite.
John Gotti's hangout was called the Ravenite.
John Gotti owned a racehorse, so did Bill Allen.
The owner of the Buckaroo Club has ties to the Hells Angels, he was once represented in court for a DV case by the sister-in-law of Duane Gibson, a former aide to Don Young and employee of Jack Abramoff.
Does anybody see a pattern beginning to emerge ?
Throw in Jerry Hood and his very strong ties to the Teamsters Union, and you have the makings of a mafia-like operation.
All of this is verifiable through the Anchorage Daily News Archives.
November 22, 2008 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink