Apparently, Ted Stevens pretty much sealed his fate when he opened his mouth:
The jurors had spent the better part of two days battling one of their own, Juror No. 9, who had refused to participate in deliberations. Several feared that they were headed for a hung jury, an ignominious end to the month-long corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens, one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress.
But when the jurors reconvened a few days later, it took them just hours to find Stevens guilty on all seven counts of lying on financial disclosure forms to hide more than $250,000 in gifts and renovations to his Girdwood, Alaska, house.
The jurors said they went from near-disaster to a quick verdict after they put their bickering aside and realized that prosecutors had presented an overwhelming case. Stevens, they said, did himself no favors by taking the stand, where he destroyed the grandfatherly image his lawyers had carefully crafted.
(…)
Ted Stevens was the defense’s star witness. He testified in detail about growing up during the Great Depression, flying planes during World War II and his work in the Senate. But he could not recall much about house renovations. Jurors said they did not believe his explanation that two Veco workers on the project were moonlighting for him or a contractor.
Then Morris hammered Stevens over the receipt of a $2,700 massage chair and other gifts. Stevens said the chair was just a loan, even though it had been in his Washington house for seven years. The jurors said they found it incredible that Stevens did not return items that he said he had not sought: furniture, a Viking grill, a first-floor deck and a fish statue.
And they noted how Morris pounded Stevens about not changing the locks on “the chalet” to prevent Allen from returning with more unwanted gifts.
“I really just wish he hadn’t testified,” Walsh said. “He didn’t help his case at all.”
It’s unclear whether Stevens might have been acquitted had he exercised his Fifth Amendment rights, but it’s fairly clear he didn’t help himself by opening his mouth.
