Ted Stevens' conviction set aside

Yes, Sen. Stevens was screwed, Sen. Hatch, but that's the way things are done... get over it. Smearing is in the great American political tradition. True, actually having the Justice Department participate is a new wrinkle, but Americans are known for innovation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A federal judge Tuesday set aside the conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens.

A courtroom sketch shows ex-Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens at Tuesday proceedings, where he said he had "new hope."

The judge also initiated criminal contempt proceedings against the government lawyers who prosecuted the 85-year-old Alaska Republican.

He appointed an independent, nongovernment attorney, Henry Schuelke III, to investigate possible prosecutorial misconduct.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan described Schuelke, a longtime Washington-based attorney, as "highly qualified" to pursue the matter.

Stevens maintained his innocence throughout a government probe that led to an indictment and conviction last year for failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of "freebies" from an oilfield services company on Senate ethics forms.

In a statement read to the court Tuesday, Stevens said that his faith in the justice system had been restored.

"Until recently, my faith in the criminal justice system was unwavering. But what some members of this prosecution team did nearly destroyed my faith. Their conduct has consequences they must know can never be reversed," Stevens said.

"But [I now have] new hope that others may be spared from similar miscarriages of justice."

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Stevens added he would "encourage the enactment of legislation to reform laws relating to the responsibilities and duties of those entrusted with the solemn task of enforcing federal criminal laws."

In issuing his ruling, Sullivan noted the Justice Department's investigation into potential misconduct by government prosecutors already had gone on for six months with no result.

"The silence is deafening," Sullivan said.

The judge previously had excoriated prosecutors during the trial and held the prosecution in contempt at one point.

Soon after he was found guilty, Stevens lost his bid for re-election in November to Democratic challenger Mark Begich, then mayor of Anchorage.

But in December, two months after the guilty verdicts, an unnamed FBI whistle-blower accused prosecutors of withholding evidence from the defense. The whistle-blower reported that someone with the government had had an inappropriate relationship with Bill Allen, an oil industry executive who was the government's key witness.

In a dismissal motion filed Wednesday, the Justice Department acknowledged that Stevens was not given access to notes taken by prosecutors during an April 2008 interview with Allen.

The notes show that responses by Allen, the prosecution's star witness, were inconsistent with testimony he gave against Stevens, and that information from the interview could have benefited Stevens at trial, according to the motion.

"In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement last week.

One of Stevens' longtime friends, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, said last weekend that Stevens was "screwed by our own Justice Department."

Hatch praised Holder for "standing up and fixing this foul situation."

"I think he's more than shown integrity and decency in this matter, and it's not an easy thing for him to do that," Hatch said. "He has, in looking at it, realized now what people like myself have been saying is 100 percent right."

In the days that followed the Justice Department's dismal motion, Alaska state Republican leaders, including Gov. Sarah Palin, called on Begich to step down and allow a rematch without what has been called the "taint" of a criminal case against Stevens.

Begich issued a statement that he intends to serve his six-year term.