Roger Stone

[Ben]

I've been reading with interest what's happening with Roger Stone lately. I recall we talked about the battle rattle publicity raid on his home for his original arrest, but besides the nine years in prison they were seeking, I had no idea the deck was this stacked: It appears several prosecutors should have recused themselves, and geez - this jury foreman:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/roger-stone-juror-justice-department-anti-trump-social-media

[Jamisjockey]

The report I heard from a conservative talk show host was that the prosecutors told their superiors at justice they were recommending a certain sentence.  But then, they turned around and recommended a much higher sentence to the judge.  This is all about prosecutor misconduct.

[Ben]

Just for clarity, I don't know enough of the background to know if Stone is completely innocent. He may very well have done something shady, but not nine years in the slammer shady. He certainly doesn't seem to have done anything worse than anyone in the Hillary campaign, or probably most campaigns.

[Northwoods]

What did he even supposedly do?

[Ben]

What did he even supposedly do?

This seems like a pretty decent synopsis:

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/the-roger-stone-sentencing-fiasco/

While they might have a solid case for witness tampering, to me, much of it sounds "Trump-like" in that Stone is something of a loudmouth like Trump sometimes is, speaking without thinking. It sounds almost like he was quoting bad B movie lines in the "witness threatening" thing. I think there was a Magnum PI episode regarding dog kidnapping. 

[makattak]

What did he even supposedly do?

What he did was refuse to implicate Trump in some sort of malfeasance. So the leftist persecuting him want him to pay pour encourager les autres.

What he supposedly did was make stupid bluster that the prosecutors then used as "witness tampering" to exact their pound of flesh.

[DittoHead]

Roger Stone is a sleazy political hack who has long enjoyed dancing along the edge of legality.
He probably doesn't deserve 9 years for these offenses, but pretending he's totally innocent is absurd.

[MechAg94]

Roger Stone is a sleazy political hack who has long enjoyed dancing along the edge of legality.
He probably doesn't deserve 9 years for these offenses, but pretending he's totally innocent is absurd.

I haven't heard anyone pretend he was innocent.  Where did you see that?  

What I have seen is either 1) he screwed up but the charges/penalty recommendation was excessive, and 2) he is a Trump guy, he must be guilty, so give him the max penalty. 

Considering all the stuff that hasn't been prosecuted over the last 10 years, what Stone did doesn't amount to much.  I can't imagine any other reason federal prosecutors are wasting time with it aside from punishing people around Trump.  I do recall the action to arrest Stone was one of those Mueller shows with dozens of agents in tactical gear showing up to arrest an old guy who seemed to love the attention. 

[makattak]

Roger Stone is a sleazy political hack who has long enjoyed dancing along the edge of legality.
He probably doesn't deserve 9 years for these offenses, but pretending he's totally innocent is absurd.

Of course he's a sleazy political hack. THEY ALL ARE.

The difference is he's being prosecuted while the Democrat ones are being ignored. It's not that he isn't guilty, it's that there is selective prosecution of the guilty. (See: Manafort, Paul and Blumenthal, Sidney.)

[Ron]

Not all sleazy hacks are equal.

[DittoHead]

I haven't heard anyone pretend he was innocent.  Where did you see that?  

I made the mistake of reading the comments in the National Review article linked above.
The article was good. The comments, as usual, can be a bit nutty.

Roger Stone has done absolutely nothing wrong other than supporting the president. He has nothing to do with Wikileaks or Russia and this case was an attempt by the Mueller team to somehow connect President Trump to collusion.

That the entire case was suspect and seems to have been manufactured out of nothing, the crimes were victimless, and the lie was about nothing of consequence, I think the whole thing should have been dismissed by the judge or declared a mistrial for the other reasons mentioned here.

Stone had nothing to do with Wikileaks or Russia and hyperbolic texts between friends are not a crime in the real world, again I’m sure you know these facts.

Obstructed justice? In what way? Stone never had any Wikileaks connections to discover. Everything he received was public knowledge. Just because the prosecution claimed he obstructed justice doesn't make it so. A D.C. Judge and Jury instead of such in Florida where he lives and was arrested was a sure bet conviction due to partisan bias.

No one in their right mind would take that nonsense seriously, so it cannot possibly be a crime. Call it mens rea (criminal intent) absent which, the not guilty go free and don’t go to prison for nine years. IT WAS A JOKE! Like asking the Russians to find Hillary’s missing emails.

[MechAg94]

The sad part is we are likely all guilty of violating some federal regulation we have never heard of.  I still don't like seeing people prosecuted for what is more or less a process crime that resulted from the investigation.  It sure seems like that is the primary goal of these federal investigations, to create process crimes that can be used to enhance the case.

[Pb]

"The sad part is we are likely all guilty of violating some federal regulation we have never heard of."

Yes.  Probably the large majority of gun owners are guilty of the federal felony of transporting a gun within a 1000 feet of a school.  There aren't nearly enough prisons to hold us all.  

[MechAg94]

"The sad part is we are likely all guilty of violating some federal regulation we have never heard of."

Yes.  Probably the large majority of gun owners are guilty of the federal felony of transporting a gun within a 1000 feet of a school.  There aren't nearly enough prisons to hold us all.  

Honestly, that doesn't bother me quite as much as the second part I was thinking of.  That the job of the investigators sure seems to be trapping people into committing process crimes.  A lot of these federal cases we hear about involve one or more.

[Chester32141]

This is all planned out as another impeachment trap …   

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/it-was-all-a-set-up-pelosi-accuses-president-trump-of-interfering-in-roger-stone-case-by-saying-prison-until-age-76-was-excessive/

[fifth_column]

This is all planned out as another impeachment trap …   

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/it-was-all-a-set-up-pelosi-accuses-president-trump-of-interfering-in-roger-stone-case-by-saying-prison-until-age-76-was-excessive/

Yeah, they really got trump right where they want him now . . . .  .

 

[Northwoods]

This is all planned out as another impeachment trap …   

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/it-was-all-a-set-up-pelosi-accuses-president-trump-of-interfering-in-roger-stone-case-by-saying-prison-until-age-76-was-excessive/

Oh please, oh please, oh please!  Let them do this!

[cordex]

"The sad part is we are likely all guilty of violating some federal regulation we have never heard of."

Yes.  Probably the large majority of gun owners are guilty of the federal felony of transporting a gun within a 1000 feet of a school.  There aren't nearly enough prisons to hold us all.  

A good reason to keep your carry permit up to date.

[French G.]

So I am listening to NPR to and from work mainly because the BBC world service does okay on coronavirus. Been non-stop today about Barr being pressured, the four driven snow pure prosecutors who quit and zero mention of a completely biased jury foreman.

Stone is like one of the cases of defending free speech for skinheads or something. Sure, they are disgusting humans, I mean who gets a full back tattoo of Nixon anyway? But if the system can't be made to work fairly for them it will surely be rigged on us in time.

[French G.]

This is getting far worse in the news cycle. Forget people who did far worse and got less sentences. Forget the jury foreman lied under oath in jury selection. Forget the prosecutors were biased. We must impeach again!

And Barr? Most corrupt AG ever! Except that one that dropped the investigation of a presidential candidate after talking about her grandkids. Or the one that let weapons flow to Mexican cartels. Or the one who oversaw killing a bunch of religious wackos and all their kids. 

[230RN]

French G said,

Stone is like one of the cases of defending free speech for skinheads or something. Sure, they are disgusting humans, I mean who gets a full back tattoo of Nixon anyway? But if the system can't be made to work fairly for them it will surely be rigged on us in time.

For sure.  Let's keep this in mind.

[Ben]

Looks like three years.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/roger-stone-sentencing

I wonder if it will stick? I've been reading more about the judge, including statements she made about, "Trump will know my name." While Stone may still deserve jail time (I honestly don't know at this point, given what was gotten away with as "business as usual" in the previous administration), it sure is seeming more and more like he deserves a retrial with a new judge and new jury.

[DittoHead]

I've been reading more about the judge, including statements she made about, "Trump will know my name."

Not familiar - links?

[Jim147]

I read the same thing I think it was red state

[Ben]

Not familiar - links?

I only heard it second hand via Mark Levin. I don't know where he got it. All the MSM sites seem to praise her as a great judge. It's interesting though, how she has wound up presiding over so many Trump related trials. Maybe there's a legal procedural reason for that, but as a layman I would think they would want to rotate judges.