Stevens’s trial hangs by a thread Sen. Ted Stevens’s (R-Alaska) criminal case hung by a thread Thursday when an angry federal judge said the government had violated rules on handling critical evidence. In the most dramatic day in the week-old trial, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan erupted at the Justice Department for waiting until just before midnight Wednesday to disclose FBI notes discussing Stevens’s intent to pay for gifts that are at the center of his criminal trial. Sullivan said he had lost confidence in the government’s ability to prosecute the case and ordered all exculpatory evidence, unedited FBI notes and grand jury testimony turned over immediately to the defense team before Monday’s status hearing. “How does the court have any confidence that the Public Integrity Office has any integrity?” Sullivan said, referring to the division at the Justice Department that is prosecuting the case. Sullivan rejected a defense motion to declare a mistrial and to dismiss the case against the Alaska Republican, who faces felony charges. But he instructed the jury that the government erred in its obligations to submit evidence to the defense. He said the new evidence could still be used in the trial, and offered the defense the chance to make a new opening statement. The trial may resume Monday, but that depends on the outcome of the new status hearing scheduled by Sullivan....