Alaska senator vows to fight conviction

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens says he’ll fight his conviction “with every ounce of energy” he has.
   
When Alaska voters go to the polls a week from today they’ll have to decide whether to re-elect Stevens, who yesterday became a convicted felon.
   
Stevens was found guilty of accepting a bonanza of home renovations and fancy trimmings from an oil executive and then lying about it.
   
The senator says he’s disappointed with what he calls the unjust verdict returned by a jury in the shadow of the capitol, declaring he is innocent.
   
Stevens faces a maximum of 35 years in prison, though that severe a sentence is considered unlikely.