Why A Nine-Year Prison Sentence For Roger Stone Is Insane

[Geee]

The Federalist

Roger Stone went to trial and lost. As a result, he’s likely going to be sentenced to some jail time. The question is, how much jail time is appropriate in his case?

Federal sentencing has two components. The first is the statutory range (what’s provided for by the statute—e.g., five to 40 years). Here, two of the crimes for which Stone was convicted (obstructing a congressional investigation and false statements to Congress) provide for a sentence of zero to five years, and the third (witness tampering) provides for a sentence of zero to 20 years.

The second component of federal sentencing is the Federal Sentencing Guidelines issued by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The guidelines are a complicated set of rules that use a point system to calculate an offense level and a resulting sentencing range.

 

How the Sentencing Guidelines Work

For many years, the guidelines were mandatory. That meant a judge had to sentence a defendant within the guidelines range. However, in 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the guidelines, which allow judges to enhance sentences using facts not reviewed by juries, violated the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury.

The court ruled that the guidelines had to be only advisory and invalidated the provisions that made them mandatory. Indeed, the Supreme Court later ruled that not only are the guidelines not mandatory, they are also not presumed to be reasonable.

Typically, when a defendant enters a plea agreement, the parties agree to the applicable guidelines range. But if a defendant goes to trial and loses, the parties each present a guidelines calculation to the court. In Stone’s case, when the government filed its sentencing memorandum, it calculated a guidelines range of 87 to 108 months, or roughly seven to nine years.

[Geee]

Lead Juror In Roger Stone Case Ran For Congress As A Democrat In 2012

• The foreperson on Roger Stone’s jury ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2012, it was revealed Wednesday. 
• 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.

[Geee]

Trump and Barr are playing rope-a-dope with Dems on Stone sentencing

Because they are obsessed (and deranged with TDS), Democrats are utterly predictable in their reactions to the statements and actions of President Trump and his key allies like AG Barr. Taking to Twitter with his public objection to the harsh sentence recommendation for Roger Stone handed down by the 4 prosecutors who obtained a guilty verdict, President Trump knew that Democrats would react hysterically. And sure enough, they have taken the bait.