William Barr's Justice Department has withdrawn its own prosecutors' sentence recommendations for convicted felon Roger Stone. Instead of 7 to 9 years behind bars, Mr. Barr objects. He leaves the substituted recommendation open-ended without committing to anything beyond leaving the sentencing decision to the judge, who will have the final say in any event.
This was not an ambiguous criminal case. It was clear from the start to everyone involved. The jury in Mr. Stone's case deliberated for only seven hours before they returned convictions on every count, every charge against Mr. Stone.
"In their initial sentencing memorandum federal prosecutors said that Mr. Stone should serve up to nine years because he threated a witness with bodily harm, deceived congressional investigators and carried out an extensive, deliberate, illegal scheme that included repeatedly lying under oath and forging documents." Katie Benner, Sharon LaFraniere, and Adam Goldman, Justice Dept. Acts to Ease Sentence ... / 4 U.S. Prosecutors Quit Stone Case After Bosses Step In to Overrule Them, NEW YORK TIMES, Wed., Feb. 12, 2020, at A1.
After his indictment and before he was tried, Mr. Stone reportedly also violated the Court's gag orders against speaking out and threatened Judge Amy Berman Jackson, the judge presiding over his criminal case. She is also the judge who will sentence him following his convictions.
One of Mr. Stone's defenses to all this is that Mr. Stone was once riddled with anxiety but that he is much better now, the New York Times reports.
So, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, what sentence if any will you impose for these crimes? "Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you."
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