Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska has been found guilty of lying on financial disclosure forms in an attempt to hide gifts, largely in the form of a six-figure home renovation, from Alaska businessmen.  The Washington Post reports:

The verdict was announced just after 4 p.m. in a packed courtroom in U.S. District Court in Washington. Stevens (R) sat quietly as the jury foreman said the panel had reached a unanimous decision and found Stevens guilty on all seven counts of filing false financial disclosure forms.

Jurors, who re-started their deliberations at 9:30 a.m. today when a juror was replaced by an alternate, were somber as they walked into the courtroom to deliver the verdict and did not look at Stevens. No sentencing date has been set, and Stevens’s attorneys are expected to file motions seeking to have the verdict set aside.

It is certainly too soon to determine what effect this will have on Stevens’ reelection race in Alaska, here he is running almost even with Anchorage mayor Mark Begich, but it is probably a safe bet to say that Stevens’ conviction puts a victory much farther out of his grasp.

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