As we reported last November, the Stone jury was one not of his peers and Judge Amy Berman kept almost every one of them.
Republican operative and television personality, author, and radio host, Roger Stone had a jury pool that came from an electorate who despises his friend and boss, President Trump.
The U.S. District Court in Washington chooses jury pools strictly from deepest-blue D.C. boundaries, otherwise known to many as the “swamp.”
The Constitution’s Sixth Amendment mandates an “impartial jury” of one’s peers. His 12 jurors were not a jury of Mr. Stone’s peers as it turned out, and they weren’t impartial.
THE BIASED POOL OF JURORS
The lead juror in the case ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2012.
Tomeka Hart revealed her role on the jury in a Facebook post defending four prosecutors who quit the Stone case in protest over a revision to the Trump confidante’s recommended prison sentence.
Hart’s social media activity shows she closely followed the special counsel’s Russia investigation, and frequently posted negative stories about President Donald Trump.
From the beginning:
“At the beginning of jury selection, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee who took a hard stand against Paul Manafort, said that she would not remove potential jurors solely on the basis of them working for the federal government or because of their views of Trump,” the Daily Caller reported.
-
The Importance of Prayer: How a Christian Gold Company Stands Out by Defending Americans’ Retirement
Judge Jackson rejected a request from defense lawyers to remove a potential juror who dislikes President Trump and whose husband is a lawyer who worked on the Russia-Trump case.
Politico reported, “And that first juror was an only-in-Washington character, a former Obama-era press secretary for the Office of Management and Budget whose husband still works at the Justice Department division that played a role in the Russia probe that ultimately snagged Stone. She acknowledged having negative views of President Donald Trump and said she had followed the media coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.”
The outlet noted that the woman said she did not have strong views about Stone and could make a fair judgment.
Jackson denied a request from Stone’s lawyers to strike the woman as a potential juror.
“A former attorney who stepped up to be questioned to sit on the jury admitted he was “deeply opposed to everything Donald Trump stands for,” and had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016,” Courthouse News reported.
But the prospective juror said despite the “highly charged political climate” in Washington, he had no doubt he could set aside his personal political opinions to serve on the jury, according to the same outlet.
Jackson would not send the juror home.
After that, Stone became ill and left the courtroom with food poisoning. He and his wife went to the courthouse clinic.
THEY ALL KNOW WHO HE IS
One male potential juror unknowingly used Stone’s own words to describe the defendant, calling him a “dirty trickster.” He said he knew Stone had a tattoo of Richard Nixon on his back, and that the former president was known as “Tricky Dick,” according to courthouse news.
Another man described Stone as a “political provocateur,” while a woman from the witness box said Stone is “clearly a flamboyant character.”
THE CHARGES AND THE LIFE SENTENCE
While he was investigated for alleged contacts with Wikileaks, he was “not charged with hacking or handling of emails, and there is no evidence in the special counsel’s report that he did,” Daily Caller reported.
Yet, he faced life imprisonment.
The Daily Caller reported further, “Instead, Stone is accused of lying during his House Intelligence Committee testimony in September 2017 regarding his discussions with Trump campaign officials and other associates regarding WikiLeaks’ plans to release Democrats’ emails.”
“He has pleaded not guilty to lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his communications with WikiLeaks. He also pleaded not guilty to charges of obstruction of justice and witness tampering,” according to the outlet.
The Mueller attorneys in charge of his prosecution recommended 7-9 years in prison for the sickly 67-year-old with a deaf wife.
wpDiscuz
