Feb. 20 (UPI) — Roger Stone, Republican strategist and former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, will be sentenced Thursday for convictions on multiple counts that include lying to Congress and witness tampering.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson has said she will deliver the sentence even though Stone’s defense team filed a motion for a new trial, claiming improper conduct by a juror.
Jackson told attorneys and prosecutors in the case Tuesday that Stone would be given time to make challenges after he is sentenced, meaning that even if he receives jail time Thursday he won’t be immediately imprisoned.
Should Jackson ultimately grant a new trial, Thursday’s sentence would be voided.
Stone, 67, was convicted last fall on seven criminal counts, including lying to Congress about his contacts with the document disclosure group WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign and his attempts to force an associate, comedian Randy Credico, to back up his story. He was also convicted of obstructing a House investigation seeking to determine if there were ties between Trump’s team and Russia during the 2016 campaign.
The charges against Stone stem from the two-year Justice Department investigation of Russian electoral interference, which also convicted five other Trump aides or advisers.
The possible length and severity of Stone’s sentence created a tumultuous atmosphere around the case last week after Trump indicated displeasure at prosecutors’ original recommendation of seven to nine years in prison. Trump said such a length was “very unfair.” The following day, Attorney General William Barr overruled the recommendation.
Hours later, four of the federal prosecutors working on the case quit, two of whom resigned entirely from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.
Stone’s defense team filed a motion last week for a new trial after the jury’s foreperson stated publicly she supported the four prosecutors who quit the case.
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