Roger Stone again asks court for new trial
Roger Stone has once again asked the court to grant him a new trial, according to a court order issued on Friday afternoon. This request comes a day after President Trump tweeted about the foreperson in Stone's criminal trial.
"Now it looks like the fore person in the jury, in the Roger Stone case, had significant bias," he wrote. "Add that to everything else, and this is not looking good for the 'Justice' Department."
On Tuesday, CNN reported that Tomeka Hart, who was the foreperson on Stone's jury, had said on Facebook that she wanted to "stand up" for the four prosecutors who withdrew from the case in protest. "It pains me to see the DOJ now interfere with the hard work of the prosecutors. They acted with the utmost intelligence, integrity, and respect for our system of justice," Hart reportedly wrote.
On Tuesday, all four government prosecutors in Stone's case abruptly withdrew, with one resigning outright, after senior Justice Department officials, including Attorney General William Barr, softened the sentencing recommendation they had sent to the judge.
They had initially recommended that Stone serve seven to nine years in prison after he was convicted in November 2019 on seven counts, including obstruction, witness tampering and lying to investigators in a case stemming from the Mueller investigation. Two of the prosecutors worked on Robert Mueller's Russia investigation in the special counsel's office.
The request is under seal, but its existence was mentioned by Judge Amy Berman Jackson in her court order instructing both parties in the case to file responses and other documents under seal by Tuesday.
Stone scheduled to be sentenced two days after that, on Thursday, February 20.