Alaska senator’s trial will be held in D.C.

WASHINGTON – A federal judge has turned down Sen. Ted Stevens’ request to move his corruption trial to Alaska, tying the 84-year-old Alaska Republican to a Washington courtroom at the height of his re-election campaign 3,500 miles away.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan decided Wednesday that the trial will remain in the nation’s capital and will continue on an accelerated schedule. The judge offered to take Fridays off during the trial so Stevens could travel to Alaska to campaign on the weekends, but the senator’s lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, was lukewarm to the idea, especially if it means a slower path to a verdict.

Stevens asked for – and received – a speedy trial schedule so that he could go to court before the Nov. 4 election. Jury selection is set to begin Sept. 22 and the trial is scheduled to start two days later. It’s expected to last four weeks.

“We want the earliest possible trial,” his attorney said. “We want the verdict as far this side of Election Day as possible.”

Stevens faces seven felony counts of knowingly taking home repairs and gifts worth more than $250,000 from the oil services company Veco Corp. and failing to report them on his annual Senate disclosure forms from 2001 through 2006. If he’s convicted, he faces up to five years in prison on each count.

Stevens was in Alaska on Wednesday campaigning for the Senate seat he’s held since 1968 and didn’t attend the court hearing. Next Tuesday, he’s expected to finish first against six opponents in a Republican primary. He faces a more difficult general election contest come November, when he’s expected to face Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, the Democratic challenger, who’s pulled ahead of the senator in some polls.

Stevens released a statement Wednesday saying that he’d asked his attorneys to request a venue change “because I wanted Alaskans to have a firsthand opportunity to learn the facts of this matter.”