Former Trump adviser Roger Stone
is expected to be sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman
Jackson, who has been involved in several high-profile cases since being
appointed to the federal bench in 2011 by former President Barack Obama. In
recent years the 65-year-old Baltimore native and Harvard Law School
graduate has presided over cases involving Stone, former Trump campaign
chairman Paul Manafort and former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
-- as well as one involving Hillary Clinton's Benghazi-related emails. Jackson said
Tuesday during a pre-sentence hearing that she will move ahead with the
sentencing of Stone this week -- rejecting requests by the defense to
delay or request a new trial. She has been described by some as tough, fair and always prepared. Here are more details about cases over which Judge Jackson has presided.
Roger Stone case
Jackson
is presiding over the Roger Stone case, in which a jury found him
guilty on all seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making
false statements to Congress in connection with former Special Counsel
Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Stone was charged with
providing false statements to the House Intelligence Committee about
communication involving WikiLeaks, obstructing a congressional
investigation of Russian interference during the 2016 U.S. presidential
election and witness tampering. During the trial, Jackson barred
Stone from speaking publically about the ongoing prosecution after a
picture of her appeared on his Instagram with what appeared to be
crosshairs on the background. Stone blamed the decision -- which he reviewed -- on an unnamed volunteer and apologized, to which Jackson replied last February, "I have serious doubts about whether you learned anything at all."
Roger Stone, a longtime Republican provocateur and former
confidant of President Donald Trump, waits in line at the federal court
in Washington, Nov. 12, 2019. (Associated Press)
"From this moment on, the defendant may not speak
publicly about this case -- period," Jackson said. "No statements about
the case on TV, radio, print reporters, or [the] internet. No posts on
social media. [You] may not comment on the case through surrogates. You
may send out emails about donating to the Roger Stone defense fund." "This
is not baseball. There will be no third chance. If you cannot abide by
this, I will be forced to change your surroundings so you have no
temptations," she added.
"This is not baseball. There
will be no third chance. If you cannot abide by this, I will be forced
to change your surroundings so you have no temptations." — Judge Jackson to Roger Stone
Ahead
of Thursday's scheduled hearing, Jackson was attacked by President
Trump in a Feb 11 tweet. He also criticized prosecutors' recommendation
that Stone should face seven to nine years in prison. "Is this the
Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that
not even mobster Al Capone had to endure? How did she treat Crooked
Hillary Clinton? Just asking!" Trump wrote. After his tweets, the Justice Department
announced in a surprising decision it was revising the federal
sentencing guidelines of term length. Several prosecutors quit and Trump
was accused of interfering in the process, which he denied. Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy
said Jackson can impose whatever sentence she feels is appropriate,
regardless of how Trump or Attorney General Bill Barr feel about the
case. But McCarthy wrote recently that "the Stone prosecution is more politics than law enforcement. It was the Mueller probe’s last gasp at pretending there might be something to the Russia-collusion narrative."
Paul Manafort case
Jackson
sentenced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to nearly seven
years in prison last March in connection with his guilty plea related to
foreign lobbying and witness tampering. She ordered a term of 73 months
to be added to a 47-month sentence given earlier on bank and tax fraud
charges in a separate case by Virginia Judge T.S. Ellis. In December, Manafort's state mortgage fraud charges were dismissed citing double jeopardy laws. “This
defendant is not public enemy number one, but he is not a victim
either,” Jackson said last March during Manafort's sentencing and prior
to his charges being dismissed. “The question of whether there was any
collusion with Russia ... was not presented in this case, period,
therefore it was not resolved by this case.” In 2018, Manafort
agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, pleading guilty to two felony
conspiracy charges in relation to his lobbying work with Ukraine. Last
February, Jackson ruled Manafort intentionally breached his guilty plea
agreement by lying to investigators on Mueller's team. "The
Office of Special Counsel (OSC) made its determination that the
defendant made false statements and thereby breached the plea agreement
in good faith," Jackson wrote. "Therefore, the Office of Special Counsel
is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement,
including its promise to support a reduction of the offense level in the
calculation of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for acceptance of
responsibility."
Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York, June 27, 2019
after a judge threw out his New York mortgage fraud case on double
jeopardy grounds. (Associated Press)
Jackson grilled Mueller's team during the probe on whether Manafort lied to investigators before her eventual ruling. "So,
I'm trying to figure out what the importance is of his ongoing work for
a potential candidate in the Ukraine at that time is, and the
importance of any lies about that, or lies about Konstantin Kilimnik's
[who has ties to Russian intelligence] knowledge about that," Jackson
said. She appreciated Manafort's attendance in court last February
after denying his attempt to skip the hearing due to what he described
were health reasons. "I believe it was very helpful, very useful
and very important for you to have been here, Mr. Manafort," Jackson
said. "I know that we've had hearings where counsel sought to minimize
the burden on you and not have you be here, but this is about you, it's
not about them. And I think it's very important that they have you
available to ask questions to."
Jesse Jackson Jr. case
The
judge sentenced former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to 2-1/2 years in prison
back in 2013 after he was convicted of spending $750,000 in campaign
funds on personal items -- such as a gold watch, cigars and mounted elk
heads. Jessie Jackson Jr. is the son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., arrives at the E.
Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, Feb. 20, 2013.
(Associated Press)
During the case, she said that if she had given him
no prison time it would have suggested there was one system for the
well-connected and one for everyone else. "I
cannot do it. I will not do it," she said, adding that as a public
official, Jackson Jr. was expected to "live up to a higher standard of
ethics and integrity."
Clinton Benghazi email case
Jackson
tossed out a wrongful-death lawsuit against Hillary Clinton in 2017 by
the parents of two Americans who were among those killed in a terror
attack against a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The lawsuit
alleged that Clinton's use of the private email server caused their
deaths. The
ruling was based on the Westfall Act, which gives federal employees
immunity from tort claims arising out of acts made during the course of
their official duties. “Her actions – communicating with other
State Department personnel and advisers about the official business of
the department – fall squarely within the scope of her duty to run the
Department and conduct the foreign affairs of the nation as Secretary of
State,” Jackson wrote. Jackson
ruled the parents didn't sufficiency challenge that Clinton wasn't
acting in her official capacity when she used the email server. "The
untimely death of plaintiffs' sons is tragic, and the Court does not
mean to minimize the unspeakable loss that plaintiffs have suffered in
any way," Jackson wrote in a 29-page opinion. Fox News' Brooke Singman, Gregg Re and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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