judge emmett sullivan, of federal district court, issued an opinion ordering the public release of a 500-page report outlining serious misconduct by the justice department attorneys from the public integrity section during the prosecution of senator stevens. in the opinion, judge sullivan discussed the tortured history of the stevens prosecution, specifically he noted that after a public indictment, a public trial, a must be lick conviction and a press conference celebrating the guilty verdict, the ed of prosecutorial misconduct arose. he also noted that only as the evidence of misconduct became clearer and harder to repute, did the justice department dismiss the indictments and vacate the verdict, however the justice department also stepped in to protect the prosecutors. the justice department initially sought to prevent any misconduct review by the court arguing instead of an internal review, the prosecutor's conduct via the office of professional responsibility. to his credit, judge sullivan did not allow this and instead appointed a special investigator to investigate and prosecu