Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., revised a sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone on Tuesday, saying the longtime Trump confidante deserves a prison sentence “far less” than the 87 to 108–month recommendation submitted Monday.
Prosecutors said in the new filing that the previous recommendation was “excessive,” and more in line with cases involving violent offenses rather than the obstruction charges that Stone faced.
“The prior filing submitted by the United States on February 10, 2020 does not accurately reflect the Department of Justice’s position on what would be a reasonable sentence in this matter,” wrote John Crabb, Jr., an assistant U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.
“While it remains the position of the United States that a sentence of incarceration is warranted here, the government respectfully submits that the range of 87 to 108 months presented as the applicable advisory Guidelines range would not be appropriate or serve the interests of justice in this case.”
The revised filing was submitted after a tumultuous day in the Stone case. Three prosecutors who worked on the case withdrew from the proceedings after a Justice Department official signaled that top brass was unhappy with the hefty prison recommendation.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump voiced his displeasure with the initial recommendation, which he called a “miscarriage of justice.”
The main difference in the two sentencing recommendations deals with how prosecutors want to handle a witness tampering charge against Stone.
Stone was convicted Nov. 15, 2019, on five false statements charges, an obstruction charge, and a witness tampering charge, all related to his interactions with the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia investigation.
Prosecutors alleged Stone threatened a longtime associate, Randy Credico, in order to prevent him from cooperating with the House investigation or the special counsel’s probe.
At Stone’s trial, prosecutors pointed to an April 2018 message in which Stone told Credico, “Prepare to die, cocksucker.”
Stone also told Credico, who he has worked with since 2002, that he would take his dog.
In their initial filing, prosecutors asserted that Stone’s threats warranted an eight-level enhancement to his sentence, which would significantly increase his recommended prison term.
But prosecutors appear to have reversed their thinking about the enhancements in the newest filing.
The filing cited two cases where an eight-level enhancement was imposed. In one case, a defendant involving in a gang war gave the “green light” to two gang members to “smash” a cooperating witness. In another case, a defendant was slapped with an eight-level enhancement after he “threatened to rape and kill the wife of a cooperating witness in a drug distribution conspiracy prosecution.”
Prosecutors said that while the enhancements were “perhaps technically applicable,” they “disproportionately” increased Stone’s offense level to one usually seen in crimes involving violent crimes like armed robbery.
Prosecutors said that if the enhancement for threatening Credico was not added on to Stone’s sentence, he would have received a recommendation of between 37 and 46 months in prison.
“Accordingly, it would be reasonable for the Court to conclude that the Guidelines range as calculated is unduly high on the facts of this case.”
Stone has long insisted his threat was not a serious one. He’s said that he and Credico have been on-and-off friends for years, and often trash-talked each other.
While Credico claimed in media interviews in 2018 that he felt threatened by Stone, he testified at Stone’s trial that he did not take the messages seriously and never felt that he was in physical danger.
Credico wrote to Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Jan. 20 pleading for no jail time for Stone.
@Greg:
And the jury and judge were both biased. That has been clearly demonstrated.
Just another example of how Nazi-like Democrats can be when they are given the opportunity. Sadly, many like you cheer it on.
@Deplorable Me, #51:
It HAS NOT been demonstrated. It has only been asserted as part of a pro-Trump propaganda campaign. The fact is that the defense team was allowed to question, investigate, and disqualify any members of the jury pool that they believed to be biased, as is routinely allowed in all criminal federal court pre-trial proceedings. They were even allowed to disqualify a certain number from jury participation without giving any reason or rationale for doing so.
The only bias the jury had was the determination to render a verdict based upon the presented testimony, arguments, and evidence.
Roger Stone was found guilty of all seven felony counts because the evidence and testimony clearly and unambiguously demonstrated that he was. He actually committed seven crimes that are statutory felonies. The standards he was held to in court are the same standards that anyone else would be held to. It’s as simple as that.
@Greg: It has been CLEARLY established. The left has trampled due process and justice. Police states have no use for such archaic concepts.
@Deplorable Me, #53:
Trump and his minions have clearly established what they are by their own words and deeds, and why their powers of office must be taken from them at the earliest opportunity. That reckoning with the American people will come in November.
Their personal reckonings with the laws they have broken may or may not come after January, but I’m not going to bother following the news on any of that. The less I hear their names after their removal from office, the better. Trump can turn Mar a Lago into a fortified retirement compound for himself and his loyalist flunkies, for all I care.
Which laws imbecile? Unable to be specific? Of course you can not be specific because President Trump has broken no laws, period…
Just the rambling words of the board imbecile.
@July 4th American: Please excuse greggie the rock for his lies and statements. He lacks the ability to think and recall facts in this stage of his life. (It is likely this stage of his life started many decades ago!)
@Greg: The persecution of Stone, Manafort, Page, Papadoupolis, Gen. Flynn and Trump set a precedent and a new low for government in the United States. Obama’s weaponization of the IC, FBI and DOJ to attack political opponents set the government on a dangerous, fascist path. I hope to God Trump not only wins but can gain enough of a majority in the House and Senate to pursue those who cooperated in this miscarriage of justice and punish them to the fullest extent of the law. Otherwise, it will become the norm.
@Deplorable Me: greggie the rock has no idea what you are talking about. Some of your words are too big for him to comprehend and he doesn’t read any news with big words or blue letters.