Light Sentence
“Legal observers were surprised by the relatively light, 47-month sentence received Thursday by President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was convicted in August on charges of tax and bank fraud.
The 69-year-old, who appeared in the court in Virginia in a wheelchair and pleaded for compassion, could have been sentenced to up to 24 years in federal prison.
With time served, Thursday’s sentence means Manafort could spend a little more than three years behind bars for this case.
NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner: ‘As a former prosecutor, I’m embarrassed. As an American, I’m upset … I am just as disappointed with Judge Ellis. It’s an outrage and it’s disrespectful of the American people.'”
I have been in level 4, 2, and 1 prisons. I used to chase prisoners a long time ago. None of these prisons are a walk in the park. The prison up in Pugsley, Michigan was a level 1 and one of the most dangerous ones in the state as they transferred a bunch of long timers there who did not give a . . . . . you know what I mean. For this peace of garbage ‘Manafort’ it has to be a huge let down having to associate with the lesser human beings who will be making fun of him. Lets see what the next sentencing brings. If they run it consecutively and it goes over 10 years, he will go to a Level 4.
Judge Ellis, it should be recalled has been on the government lawyers from the start. Either he disagrees with the prosecutorial tactic of using one case to squeeze a defendant on another or he was annoyed that he didn’t have the more important case in his court, or both.
“Judge Ellis is quite a piece of work. In 2009, when Democratic congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana famously got caught with 90-grand in cold, ill-gotten cash in his home freezer, Ellis threw the book at him, sentencing Jefferson to 13 years, the longest bid ever doled out to a congressman in a bribery case. Jefferson, it should be noted, was black. Ellis was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Imagine what kind of justice is going to be handed out from the federal bench in 2051, when some of the Trump judges have been serving for 32 years. That’s the last awful thing about the sentencing of Paul Manafort, the torturer’s bagman. Some crook yet unborn is going to skate because his politics immunize him from any crime.”
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a26762905/manafort-sentencing-judge-ellis/
My favorite light sentence is “Let there be light!”, especially in Haydn’s version.
Peter:
A sense of humor, heh?
My curiosity is why 47 months. Why not make it a true 4 years? Would something else have kicked in if it was 48 months? Or did the judge just use some personal math formula that resulted in 47 months?
Just a curiosity.
Daniel:
It could have to do with want type of prison he goes to. In Michigan if you are sentenced to greater than 10 years, you are going to a Level 4 prison which means 8 hours out and 16 hours in lock down The killers are there such as the sailor who was killing prostitutes at each port. 48 months might be the cutoff for a level 2. He is probably in a level 1 if my assumption (latter) is correct.
Interesting Runn7541,
Then the judge really did him a big favor if you are correct. It makes sense. White collar crime, serving time at the country club meme? π
Daniel:
If he goes to a legit Level 1, it is no country club and the locals will be intermingling with him. The punks, junkies, dealers, burglars, a murderer’ etc. They will eat him up.
One problem is that Manafort didn’t get much more time than Cohen. Cohen cooperated with the government to the nth degree. Manafort did about everything he could to not cooperate and to betray the arrangement he did make. Why should others cooperate when the see no big difference in the end result for them?
@Denis Drew, fortunately, they can’t assume one judge, like Ellis, will do what most of the others do.