Agent, Witness in Stevens Case Had a Fling, Defense Says

Ted's team wants new trial over secret-sharing
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 27, 2009 7:36 AM CST
Agent, Witness in Stevens Case Had a Fling, Defense Says
Artist rendering of Sen. Ted Stevens' trial. Top, from left: Defense attorney Brendan Sullivan, prosecutor Brenda Morris, Judge Emmet Sullivan, Stevens. Bottom: Robert Cary, Mary Beth Kepner, others.   (AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren)

Lawyers for former Sen. Ted Stevens say the head FBI agent in his corruption case got a little too cozy with a key witness against Stevens, Politico reports. The defense lawyers cite an FBI whistleblower's memo that “strongly suggests that the inappropriate relationship” between the agent and an oilman “was sexual”—and that agent Mary Beth Kepner “wore a skirt” for Bill Allen the day he testified.

The memo notes that Kepner may have given Allen secret information on other federal cases. Further, defense attorneys say the memo shows “that government representatives lied to the court or stood by silently while other members of the prosecution team represented facts to the Court that simply were not true.” The defense wants the verdict dumped or a new trial.
(More Ted Stevens stories.)

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