Key Witness Against Stevens Denies Lawyer Gave Signals During Testimony

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Former VECO chief executive Bill Allen, the government's star witness in the public corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), said on Tuesday he had not been receiving secret signals from his lawyer while testifying, according to the Hill.

The denial came a day after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan threatened Allen's lawyer, Robert Bundy, with contempt for shaking his head while Allen was being cross examined. Bundy, who was ordered out of the courtroom after the judge's rebuke, was not present during Tuesday's hearing.

Stevens was charged with a seven-count indictment in July. He is accused of "knowingly concealing" $250,000 worth of gifts from oil services company VECO Corp., including home renovations in his Alaska home.

Defense attorneys have argued that Stevens had paid $160,000 for the renovations. They have also said Stevens' wife was the one in charge of managing payments for the renovations, and that a 40-year veteran senator would not "sudden[ly] in the 75th year of his life... want to go out and become a criminal?"

Allen testified for the first time last Tuesday about his close friendship with Stevens, and gifts he gave to the senator such as a $6,000 electric generator and a swap of a 1999 Land Rover worth $44,000 for Stevens' 1964 Mustang and $5,000.

On Monday, phone conversations in 2006 between Stevens and Allen, who met in high school, showed that the senator believed he "didn't do anything wrong" but was concerned about having to spend "to serve a little time in jail." The conversations were secretly recorded by the FBI after Allen agreed to cooperate with the probe of VECO.

The FBI tapes were a matter of serious dispute last week. An 11th hour disclosure by prosecutors about the tapes caused the judge to suspend Stevens' trial and consider a motion to dismiss all charges or declare a mistrial. Stevens' attorneys said the prosecutors withheld evidence that could have helped prove the senator's innocence.

Stevens, only the tenth sitting U.S. senator in history to be indicted while in office, previously lost a motion to have his trial moved to Alaska. He is on a bid for a seventh term.