2 prosecutors suspended for misconduct in Ted Stevens trial

WASHINGTON -- Two Justice Department prosecutors involved in the bungled corruption trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens will be suspended without pay for "reckless professional misconduct" in failing to disclose critical information to the senator's defense team, according to a internal Justice review.

Joseph Bottini, an assistant U.S. attorney in Alaska, was ordered suspended for 40 days, and James Goeke, an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington state, received 15 days, according to findings released Thursday by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility.

Bottini's attorney, Kenneth Wainstein, said his client will appeal the punishment to the federal government's Merit Systems Protection Board. Goeke's lawyer, Matthew Menchel, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Brendan Sullivan, Stevens' lawyer, said the suspensions represented "a laughable and pathetic response" to the misconduct findings which centered on the prosecution's failure to disclose inconsistent and false statements by its chief government witness.

A jury convicted Stevens in 2008 on seven counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure statements. Days later, Stevens lost his re-election bid. Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan threw out the conviction in 2009. The next year, Stevens died in a plane crash.

The Justice findings come two months after a special investigator appointed by Emmet Sullivan found that the Stevens' prosecution was "permeated by the systematic concealment" of evidence favorable to the defense. The judge's investigation, prepared by Henry Schuelke, concluded that the prosecutors acted intentionally. The Justice report, however, says the evidence "did not support" such a finding.