Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Justice Department's internal ethics watchdog says two prosecutors in the bungled corruption case against Sen. Ted Stevens engaged in reckless professional misconduct by failing to disclose information favorable to the defense.

The Office of Professional Responsibility, however, did not find that the misconduct was intentional.

A career Justice Department official decided one prosecutor should be suspended for 40 days without pay and the second prosecutor should be suspended for 15 days without pay. They can appeal to the independent Merit Systems Protection Board.

The judge in the case dismissed the senator's conviction in April 2009 after the Justice Department admitted misconduct in the case. Stevens died in a plane crash on August 9, 2010.

Earlier, a court-appointed special prosecutor declined to bring charges over government misconduct in the case.