Judge voids case against U.S. senator, orders probe

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge threw out a corruption verdict against former Republican Senator Ted Stevens on Tuesday and ordered a criminal probe into "shocking" Justice Department misconduct, in a blow to a legal system marred by accusations of Bush administration abuses.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said prosecutors deliberately withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense in the Stevens case, despite repeated instructions and three civil contempt citations.

Prosecutors have a duty to disclose such evidence whether their cases involve "a public official, a private citizen or a Guantanamo Bay detainee," Sullivan said.

The ruling is another stain on the Justice Department which was riven with accusations that it had become overly politicized under former President George W. Bush and that it violated people's rights and bungled high-profile cases.

It came as Attorney General Eric Holder seeks to restore the department's reputation and reverse legal policies formulated during the Bush administration.

Democratic President Barack Obama is also considering moving trials of some Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspects into the U.S. federal court system to try to improve the tarnished international image of the United States.

Holder decided last week that career government prosecutors had made irretrievable errors in the case against Stevens, the longest-serving Senate Republican, and asked Sullivan to dismiss the charges against him.

"We deeply, deeply regret that this occurred," Paul O'Brien, a prosecutor named by Holder in February to take over the case, told the court.