Ted Stevens Pleads Not Guilty, Will Ask For Venue Change

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) entered a plea of not guilty today to seven charges of filing false financial disclosure forms. Stevens was indicted earlier this week. His lawyer, Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly advised the court today that he would be filing a motion to have the venue of the trial changed to Alaska, where mist of the witnesses apparently reside, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The presiding judge indicated that he believed Washington was aan appropriate venue, but invited Mr. Sullivan to file the motion nonetheless.

My bet is that the motion will be denied. I would also be willing to wager that, unless he takes a plea, Stevens will have a very difficult time gaining an acquittal on these charges.* Really, good luck finding even a single juror who is not predisposed to believe that politicians in general, and old bulls like Stevens, are all corrupt to begin with. In any event, I’d say Brendan Sullivan has his work cut out for him here.

(*I am assuming that Stevens will opt for a jury trial. He’d be better off with a bench trial, in my estimation, but the arrogance of most elected politicians leads them to believe that they can persuade the “common folk” of pretty much anything).

Lord Black’s Chances On Appeal Appear Dim

The Chicago Tribune reports that Lord Conrad Black’s attorneys received what the paper described as a “skeptical” reception from a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Lord Black is appealing his conviction for fraud and obstruction of justice.

Eliot Spitzer Is A Jerk And A Hypocrite, But He Should Not Be Prosecuted

Unless you have somehow managed to avoid any and all news media for the last 3 days you no doubt are aware that Eliot Spitzer resigned his position as Governor of New York today, brought down by revelations that he had engaged the services of a prostitute while traveling on government business in Washington, D.C. Since the story first broke on Monday, additional allegations have surfaced concerning the frequency of Spitzer’s dalliances, the amount of money that he spent on high end call girls, and the span of years over which he has indulged his particular sweet tooth. All of this is rather unseemly, most will stipulate, and I heartily agree that resigning from office was the right thing for Spitzer to do. Engaging in the sort of conduct for which he had prosecuted others in the past reveals Spitzer as a hypocrite who sees himself as above the law, and robbed him of the moral authority to exercise authority and to wield governmental power over the citizens of New York. Unless there is much more to the story than has come to light, however, prosecuting Spitzer would be a colossal waste of governmental resources.

Good News For Former Brocade CEO

Fortune’s Roger Parloff reported Friday at his Legal Pad blog on a significant recent development in the options backdating case of former Brocade CEO Gregory Reyes. Although he was convicted on 10 bacdating related charges, Reyes will likely receive a minimal prison term – if he in fact is sentenced to any prison time at all. Seems the judge presiding over Reyes’ trial has concluded that Reyes’ conduct caused no economic losses, notwithstanding the Government’s assertions that Reyes caused as much as $2.5 to 3 billion. The Court rejected the Government’s various loss calculations as unproven or having no basis in fact or law. Thank Heaven we have the feds to protect us from all those non-loss causers.