NYT: Stevens case not isolated - Bush DOJ failed to disclose evidence favorable to the defense

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/us/politics/08justice.html?_r=2&hpw

Elite Unit’s Problems Pose Test for Attorney General
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: May 7, 2009


WASHINGTON — A week after shutting down the criminal case against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska because it had been botched by prosecutors, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. delivered a pep talk to Justice Department lawyers.

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The Public Integrity Section has scored some successes in recent years, most notably a string of convictions connected to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, including that of Bob Ney, a Republican former congressman from Ohio.

Less visibly, though, a decision by the Bush administration eight years ago to shake up the section has had some troubling consequences, like frequent leadership changes and the loss of experienced prosecutors, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former officials. Against that backdrop, court records show that the Stevens case has not been the only one in which the unit may have failed to disclose evidence favorable to the defense, as required by law.

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In 2001, Michael Chertoff, the new assistant attorney general for the criminal division, decided to replace the Public Integrity Section’s longtime chief, Lee Radek. “The thought was that fresh energy might be useful,” Mr. Chertoff said in an interview.

Under Mr. Radek, some law-enforcement officials had complained that the section moved too slowly and declined to prosecute many cases. Congressional Republicans also criticized Mr. Radek after he recommended against appointing an independent counsel to look into accusations of illegal campaign fund-raising by Vice President Al Gore.

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There were other warnings of problems in the section before the Stevens case. For example, in the case of David Safavian, a Bush official charged in the Abramoff scandal, a judge wrote in December 2008 that documents in prosecutors’ possession, brought to light by a recent book, “should be disclosed to the defendant immediately because they constitute favorable or potentially favorable evidence.”