Appellate Court Determines that Judge's Finding of Contempt Against Ted Stevens Prosecutors Was Civil, Not Criminal

Anchorage--

Ruling that the contempt in question was civil rather than criminal, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the trial judge did not err in finding that two prosecutors in the Ted Stevens case had committed contempt without providing the pair the procedural protections required when charging someone with criminal contempt.   U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan had made the contempt finding against William Welch and Brenda Morris--two attorneys who formerly supervised the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section--during post-trial litigation over discovery failures in the case.

The contempt finding was previously lifted, and this litigation over that finding appears to be over.