Paul Manafort’s trial judge made a concession to Robert Mueller’s prosecutors regarding comments he made during the trial.
Prosecutors won a victory of sorts Tuesday after persuading Judge T.S. Ellis III to allow a change to instructions he planned to give to jurors, according to Law & Crime.
The proposed instructions were related to the judge’s questioning of witnesses and running commentary in front of the jury. Attorneys convinced Ellis to replace two of the instructions with a single one which would address concerns by the prosecutors.
After Ellis had sent the jury home for the day, Assistant U.S. Attorney Uzo Asonye passed the proposed new language of the revised instruction to the judge who had some issues.
“The diction is wrong,” Ellis said, sparking laughter in the courtroom. “At least mine didn’t split the infinitive. That’s not how I talk, that’s not how anybody talks.”
“Do you think I made such comments?” he asked about potentially prejudicial comments made by the court as Asonye hesitated to answer. Law & Crime reported.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Andres answered “yes” and quickly sat back down, prompting more laughter.
“Do you remember one?” Ellis asked.
“I remember several,” Andres replied, recounting last week’s witness testimony by former Manafort aide Rick Gates.
“Mr. Manafort was very good about keeping track of the money,” Gates reportedly said.
“Not the money you stole from him,’’ Ellis had quipped. “So he didn’t do it that closely.’’
Ellis agreed with the attorneys’ assessment and decided to revise his instructions to jurors, telling them to ignore what he said and focus on the evidence.
Testimony in the trial of Manafort, the former Trump campaign chair who is facing 18 charges of tax and banking crimes, ended when defense attorney Kevin Downing told Ellis that the defense rested, without Manafort or any witnesses being called to the stand.
Jurors will return on Wednesday to hear closing arguments.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
[email protected]
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
- INSIDER: Victor Davis Hanson questions the motivation behind pro-Hamas protests, offers a roadmap to end it - April 23, 2024
- Mike Johnson hits campaign trail for Republican who accused GOP colleagues of terrible things on CNN - April 23, 2024
- Biden admin slaps convenience store chain with ‘insane’ lawsuit same day as Joe’s awkward campaign stop - April 23, 2024
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
