Stevens: Agent, witness had sexual affair during trial

posted at 12:08 pm on January 27, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

Did an FBI agent have a sexual affair with a key witness against Ted Stevens while giving testimony?  Stevens’ attorneys leveled that accusation yesterday in court, and it could derail the federal prosecution of the former Republican Senator.  An FBI whistleblower tipped off the defense:

Attorneys for former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) have accused an FBI agent involved in the Stevens corruption investigation of having an inappropriate relationship with a key witness in the case.

Based on a complaint by an FBI whistleblower, Agent Chad Joy, the Stevens defense team claims that Mary Beth Kepner, the lead FBI agent on the case, had a personal relationship with Bill Allen, the CEO of an Alaska oil services firm and a witness against Stevens.

Stevens’ lawyers state that Joy’s memo “strongly suggests that the inappropriate relationship was sexual.” Joy stated that Kepner “wore a skirt for Allen” on a day that he was to testify in the case.

Joy also charges that Kepner may have provided secret grand jury information to Allen about other ongoing federal investigations.

The affair may be the lesser of the concerns prosecutors have over this motion.  Joy informed the prosecution of the relationship on or before December 2nd, but did not reveal it to the court on that day.  That could represent prosecutorial misconduct if the judge rules that the information was relevant and germane to the defense — and it’s hard to argue that a sexual relationship between a key witness and an FBI agent wouldn’t go to credibility.

Of course, this doesn’t make Stevens into a wide-eyed innocent.  But Allen was one of the prime movers of the alleged corruption involving Stevens.  He ran the firm that did all of the construction work on Stevens’ house, the events that triggered the FBI investigation in the first place.  The FBI and prosecution chose his version of those events over Stevens’ and presented them as fact to a jury in order to gain a conviction against the Senator.

If Allen and one of the investigators had a sexual relationship, that decision certainly looks a lot less solid.  Was the agent serving on behalf of the people, or on behalf of her boyfriend?  That’s a question the defense had the right to raise at trial, and if the prosecution knowingly suppressed that information, then there should be hell to pay in Alaska.

We’ve used our quota of sexual double entendres in the contraception stimulus thread, but Stevens may have a good case to argue that he got railroaded — or at least did not get his full measure of justice.


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It’s just gubmint, not only the current administration.

It would seem this situation existed through Ds and Rs being in charge.

FOWG1 on February 2, 2013 at 8:38 AM

The Obama administration sucks.

How did voters reelect this POS?

BuckeyeSam on February 2, 2013 at 8:39 AM

And the headlines read ‘Evil Republicans blocked the funding’.

Kissmygrits on February 2, 2013 at 8:40 AM

It never seems to fail. Whatever liberals/progressives are accusing conservatives of, is what liberals/progressives are doing themselves. As we see here, the liberals/progressives will point their fingers at the BPs, Exxon/Mobils, & Chevrons of the world all the while ignoring that it is they themselves who are failing to do what they are supposed to to protect the environment.

Wildcatter1980 on February 2, 2013 at 8:41 AM

Are they sure the holes are wells and not tunnels from Mexico?

Limerick on February 2, 2013 at 8:47 AM

The Federal Government itself, no matter who is in charge, when it becomes this big & saddled with this many agencies, cannot do a damned thing right.
Yellowstone National park, when I was visiting it somewhat regularly in the late 90′s, was an overgrazed pasture.
Oh, the tourists visiting there didn’t see it bcs they don’t even know what a healthy pasture looks like.
And all those trees that burned like a sterilizing $hitstorm back in the 80′s? They left them there to rot.
When it was their mismanagement that caused this devastating sterilizing fire in the 1st place.
If you look at public lands all over the West, you will find the best stewards of the public lands are RANCHERS who lease those lands.
Bcs they need healthy pastures to make $$.
The Feds use public lands as the trendy experiment of the day.
See, it used to be there were a lot of oldsters in those agencies like USFS,USF&W,BLM,DNRs of the states, etc. who actually managed the land for profit. And the lands were healthy.
But then the Progressive leadership started slowly replacing these old folks who knew what they were doing, around the 60′s, & everything went to he!! fast.
Now you have people in charge who have been indoctrinated by the AGW crowd.
And look what destruction it has wrought in our public lands.

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 8:50 AM

The environmental wackos are doing their best to destroy nature:

–Polluting Alaska

–Killing 1000s of birds with windmills

–Forcing us to bring much of our oil from 8000 miles away (even if these’s no accident or spill along the way, there’s a lot of pollution generated by those ships)

itsnotaboutme on February 2, 2013 at 8:50 AM

And I will give you a true story. This is no lie.
After the Spotted owl BS put lots of loggers in OR & WA out of business, the Feds came to a bunch of loggers, whom I knew quite well, to prepare habitat for nesting for these owls.
The Feds told these guys to take dynamite, climb up trees in the Federal forests in certain areas, & then blow the tops out of the trees to create nesting habitat.
These tree cannot survive a topping like that. Some trees can survive having been topped. But these were a lot of hemlocks & hemlocks cannot survive that.
So 3 years later all those trees died, & NO spotted owl nests in sight anywhere this was done.
So the same Feds hired the same loggers to go back in & log those trees they were hired to kill.
This is your Federal Govt at work.

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 8:53 AM

Why not merge the BLM with the State Dept? Both seem to be leaving “unplugged holes” all over the world.

Rovin on February 2, 2013 at 8:55 AM

The BLM has entirely too much property that it
can’t manage . It’s one of the reasons I despise
the western state land grabs .

Lucano on February 2, 2013 at 8:55 AM

So the same Feds hired the same loggers to go back in & log those trees they were hired to kill.
This is your Federal Govt at work.

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 8:53 AM

This is the law of unintended consequences…

SWalker on February 2, 2013 at 9:01 AM

This is the law of unintended consequences…

SWalker on February 2, 2013 at 9:01 AM

EXACTLY.
My bro in law’s ranch he sold a few years back to set up out here back home was in btwn Ekalaka MT & Camp Crook SD.
Beautiful place.
And he only had like 400 deeded acres & was surrounded by FS land.
The stories we heard about the Feds were horrifying.
Sure, the leases are dirt cheap compared to regular marketplace leases. But I guess I’m glad we don’t live by national grasslands here for pasture leases bcs it is not worth it from what I see.

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 9:04 AM

ECOFAIL

Our Tax Dollars At Work

workingclass artist on February 2, 2013 at 9:04 AM

These Mother Earth Hating Monsters would clearly let the whole thing go to H. E. double toothpicks and ruin the pristine beauty of the wilderness.

.
Oh no, this is the H. E. double hockey sticks formulation…

ExpressoBold on February 2, 2013 at 9:05 AM

Why not merge the BLM with the State Dept? Both seem to be leaving “unplugged holes” all over the world.

Rovin on February 2, 2013 at 8:55 AM

Hat tip.

hillsoftx on February 2, 2013 at 9:07 AM

The BLM has entirely too much property that it
can’t manage . It’s one of the reasons I despise
the western state land grabs .

Lucano on February 2, 2013 at 8:55 AM

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RFsc9-yN7W4/STfhgYKB_XI/AAAAAAAABUw/ER7iwlcTwyw/s1600-h/145203.jpg

davidk on February 2, 2013 at 9:13 AM

davidk on February 2, 2013 at 9:13 AM

Great map ! Thanks

Lucano on February 2, 2013 at 9:18 AM

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 8:53 AM

Sometimes common sense prevails. At Ft. Bragg, we train and expend munitions on R5311, our Restricted Area or “the reservation”. In the mid-eighties the Cockaded Wood Pecker was put on the endangered species list and our training maps soon had all the surveyed areas where they nested and special rules were instituted to protect the nesting spots. Rules such as, no expending munitions within a certain distance or no flying/hovering aircraft and helicopters within a certain distance of them. (On an Army training reservation)

And the maps were updated. The restricted area was polluted with CWPs and their nests. It got to the point where you literally could not train. Until some brainy mugg asked a simple question. If they are that prevalent, are they really so endangered?

The restrictions were soon reduced to almost nothing.

hawkdriver on February 2, 2013 at 9:29 AM

If they are that prevalent, are they really so endangered?

The restrictions were soon reduced to almost nothing.

hawkdriver on February 2, 2013 at 9:29 AM

See, I think that ecologically, the study of ecosystems, habitat & numbers of species needs to really be evaluated. And all in the context of genetics.

Many species are only specialized ecotypes. They’re not too terrible different from the population the split off of.
This should not make them endangered bcs they are naturally a small population.
And sorry, but if one of these specialized species ‘disappears’ , even when we tried to be reasonable, then it is not a FIT species.

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 9:40 AM

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 9:40 AM

Much truth.

And even it were a proven, morale imperative to save them, at what cost?

hawkdriver on February 2, 2013 at 9:47 AM

Ecologists are such a joke. Of course we can’t just blow up or poison a place; that would be more insane than are liberals. But they lose all credibility when they worry about some sub-species with a total population of ten so much they’ll shut down an industry; or block off ;and even to hikers; or confiscate private property. In the meantime, there are places that badly need repair but the usual cry is, “We have no money!”

What turned me off to radical environmentalists was the Spotted Owl debacle. They said logging had to be stopped because the bird nested only in old-growth trees. But my first question was, “How does a bird-brained animal know the difference between a 100 year old tree and one that’s 25 years old? And, do the owls go shopping for a nesting place like humans do for a house?”

It all seems like so much trash to me, made worse when the Feds get involved.

Liam on February 2, 2013 at 9:52 AM

Murkowski and “height of hypocrisy” definitely go together..

ChuckTX on February 2, 2013 at 9:53 AM

Liam on February 2, 2013 at 9:52 AM

Hater/

hawkdriver on February 2, 2013 at 10:31 AM

it’s the “height of hypocrisy” that the federal government doesn’t live up to the same standards that it holds private industry to

…the government IS…the ONE PERCENT…JugEars always barks about!

KOOLAID2 on February 2, 2013 at 10:32 AM

Murkowski and “height of hypocrisy” definitely go together..

ChuckTX on February 2, 2013 at 9:53 AM

.
Hmmm . . . . . Lisa Murkowski … where have I heard that name before?

Oh … WAIT . . . . .

listens2glenn on February 2, 2013 at 10:49 AM

Blaming Sarah Palin in 5…4…3…2…

Amjean on February 2, 2013 at 10:54 AM

Blame the ‘Cuda… it must be her fault…
/Rachel Madcow

Khun Joe on February 2, 2013 at 12:37 PM

Guess which giant special interest is really polluting Alaska?

Moocowski is pretty hefty but I wouldn’t call her “giant”….

viking01 on February 2, 2013 at 12:41 PM

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 8:50 AM

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 8:53 AM

Badger40 on February 2, 2013 at 9:04 AM

田舎でリターンキーもないの?かわいそう。。。

 ;)

DarkCurrent on February 2, 2013 at 12:42 PM

Why I can smell them Alaskan oil wells all the way from my front porch in CT. (Actually they smell better than the thousands of metro-sexual voters I’m surrounded by)

Don L on February 2, 2013 at 1:08 PM

Down at Lee’s Ferry, AZ (just south of the damn which blocks up Lake Powell and the Colorado River) the envirowhackos came in a declared the Arkansas Razorback Chub (a small suckerfish which isn’t even native to the area) to be endangered. So, they came in and and basically killed off all the trout which ate the suckerfish and prohibitted fishing guides from taking people up the river (killing jobs/local business monies and one hell of a fight on the fly rod). Really f***ing pathetic and in the same boat as that delta river smelt BS in CA.

ahlaphus on February 2, 2013 at 1:59 PM

No surprise here. Years ago when owners of underground petroleum tanks (like me) were required to upgrade, replace and destroy them so they could no longer pollute anything them I took a trip to Yellowstone. I went behind the employees cabins at the headquarters at Mammoth to fish the Yellowstone river as I was told it was a good location for fly fishing. Stacked up like chord wood were the tanks pulled out of the park gas stations. Right next to the river. Couldn’t believe it. If a private party tried that they would fined to death and made the national news.

CW20 on February 2, 2013 at 4:58 PM

Since many greens are ex-reds, why do they feel it necessary to save conserve anything for any purpose? Marx claims that we can only hasten the inevitable tide of history, not change it. He had no firm views on spotted owls or wookpeckers.

The environment is irrelevant to the communist/ socialist utopia that is just over the horizon. It’s just a stalking horse to attack conservatives who don’t “care” like they do.

virgo on February 2, 2013 at 6:17 PM

You’ll do as I say, not as I do, after all I’m from the GOVERNMENT and I’m here to help you.

georgeofthedesert on February 4, 2013 at 11:16 AM