Ted Stevens' Trial Stays in DC - Now What?

NPR also just announced on the air that the Stevens trial won't move to Alaska.
[11am update: ABC News has a report, but not much detail. So does Alaskan Abroad.]
Based on no hard evidence whatsoever, here are some thoughts on what might happen with the Stevens trial.

The idea that the defense wanted a speedy trial so Senator Stevens could be acquitted before the November election makes sense. This has also allowed them to ask for the trial to be moved to Alaska - where they probably assume, quite reasonably, he might get a friendlier jury - and to drop some things. Now that option has been closed off.


The ADN has also said that they've requested the Prosecutors do a better labeling job of all the audio and video tapes they have to listen to.

I'm guessing, that given the piles of things they have to read and listen to, there is no way they can be ready by September 24. (I could be wrong. They could hire a whole slew of young, smart attorneys to listen to those tapes 24/7 - but they have to all be up-to-speed and clever enough to catch important tidbits on the tapes.)

So now since the trial is not being moved to Anchorage, there will not have to be an automatic delay to send out notices for jurors, etc. Finding 12 Alaskan jurors who haven't heard about this case would have taken a while. Maybe someone back from a year in Antarctica or someone living in a cabin outside of Chicken. It took 2 1/2 days to select a jury in Anchorage for Pete Kott.

With the trial staying in DC, we'll find out how much he really wants a speedy trial, or whether this was all dependent on moving back to Alaska.

Saying they want a speedy trial to prove Sen. Stevens' innocence before the election is a good political move. It's been well reported. But being convicted before the election won't be a good move.

So they can now argue that they wanted a speedy trial, but, damn, the prosecutors dumped so many boxes of materials on them that to ensure Sen Stevens gets justice, they'll need more time before they can be ready for the trial. It's not our fault, it's the Prosecutor's fault for collecting so much irrelevant material, but we still have to go through all of it to protect our client

So what happens if Stevens gets convicted before the election? A couple of lawyer friends say he would be forced out of the Senate if he's conviceted. If that happens, the Governor can appoint his replacement as Senator.

BUT, I believe the Republican party chooses who his replacement as candidate would be. Not totally sure on this, but I think this is the case.

Since Governor Palin and Republican party head Ruedrich don't get along too well, it is conceivable if all this played out just right, that they could appoint different people.