A U.S. District Court judge in Washington D.C. has rescheduled a hearing for Justice Department officials in a civil contempt case that stems from the corruption case against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan set a hearing with Patty Merkamp Stemler, chief of the Criminal Division’s Appellate Section, and three other DOJ officials for Oct. 14. Sullivan held them in civil contempt for failing to turn over 30 documents to Stevens’ lawyers in the late senator’s case, which was riddled with prosecutorial errors and dismissed last year.
Stemler was not a member of the Stevens trial team. Her boss at the time said in a sworn statement that Stemler did not play a role in the lapse.
The hearing was initially scheduled to take place Wednesday.
