The lawyers and the judge are working this afternoon on the jury instructions and the finalization of what exhibits go to the jury in what form (redactions are very important in some of these items).

Jury has gone home and is coming back Tuesday for closings to start 9:30 a.m. Closing arguments will consume all of tomorrow. The judge will read the instructions to the jury Wednesday morning, and then the jury will begin deliberations.

****

Washington, D.C.- Chief prosecutor Brenda Morris has told the judge that she expects to spend perhaps another hour cross-examining Ted Stevens on Monday morning. Depending on what comes up in the remainder of the cross-examination, lead defense attorney Brendan Sullivan may have some questions for his client on redirect examination.

Following Stevens' testimony, it appears that the trial will proceed to closing arguments on Monday (SEE UPDATE ABOVE). As the side carrying the burden of proof, the procedure is for the prosecution to go first. After the defense makes its argument, the prosecution gets the last word to rebut the defense's closing.

What will the two sides do at the end of the trial?

Prosecution

In the remainder of the cross-examination, the prosecution will aim for the same goal it will seek in closing: Hammer on the evidence most damaging to Stevens. Some of that evidence has already come into the record from chief prosecution witness Bill Allen's testimony, taped conversations between Allen and Stevens, and the cross-examinations of Stevens' wife Catherine and Stevens' friend Bob Persons.

The government can do more during the cross-examination of Ted Stevens, however, to pound home evidence favorable to the prosecution. The best evidence for the government that could be elicited on cross-examination of Stevens would come from making him set out:

● The substantial improvements made to Stevens' Girdwood home and the additional repairs made there;

● Stevens' extensive opportunities to learn about those improvements and repairs between 1999 and 2006; and

● Stevens' frequent contacts with Bill Allen during and after the making of those improvements and repairs, particularly their annual vacation-style "Boot Camps" and other face-to-face meetings together.

The best way the prosecution might demonstrate this evidence is to make a graphic during the cross-examination with four columns like this:

Year / Improvements and Repairs Added / Days Stevens Spent in Girdwood / Days Stevens Spent with Allen

Although the courtroom is filled with state-of-the-art video technology, the best way to make this graphic would be the old-school method of using a marker pen on a simple pad mounted on an easel in front of the jury.

This graphic would be a timeline that could help summarize a flood of testimony and exhibits for the jury. Making Stevens help fill out that graphic by giving answers to a series of short, precise questions would be like preparing a punchlist.

On closing argument, the prosecution could supplement that simple timeline/punchlist by adding one photograph of each improvement to illustrate the graphic. As one observer pointed out, the before and after photographs of the home could constitute some of the most damning evidence against Stevens.