Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), on trial for failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts from Veco Corporation and its former CEO Bill Allen, took the stand yesterday in his own defense, calling it a “duty” and a “priviledge” when Judge Emmett Sullivan once again reminded him that he was under no obligation to do so.  The real fireworks will be today, but his testimony began with an out and out denial that he knowingly falsified Senate forms in an effort to conceal.  The rest of the day's testimony, about 25 minutes worth, was devoted to the Senator's lengthy biography.

The Senator's wife, Catherine Stevens, gave testimony through most of yesterday.  She was questioned by a defense team eager to paint her as the fall person for the Senator's failure to disclose and a prosecution happy to make her discuss personal finance and how she used Senate staff to pay her bills, mow her lawn, and carry out other tasks instead of hiring a personal assistant.  Catherine Stevens, herself a lawyer, spent a lot of time on the stand struggling to remember the details of the renovation project on her Girdwood, Alaska home, which occured primarily between 1999 and 2002.  It might also be possible to infer that she had selectively bad memory.  Catherine expressed her significant distaste for a number of items that were listed as gifts, including a metal staircase from her second floor deck, sofas, dining table and chairs, and a Brookstone massage chair that resides in her Washington, DC home.

Judge Sullivan must also rule, most likely today, on a number of motions to strike by the defense team in its efforts to have testimony and evidence related to a number of gifts to the Senator thrown out because they were not specifically listed in the original indictment.