Manafort's Virginia judge

The schedule set by U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III at a hearing in Alexandria puts the relatively new Virginia case — involving 18 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud — on a track for trial before a separate case Mueller's team filed in Washington last year charging Manafort with money laundering and failing to register as a foreign lobbyist in connection with work for Ukraine.

[...]

Ellis' decision and the fast-moving pace of the Alexandria court's so-called rocket docket means Mueller's office could face its first major courtroom test this summer in the case against the veteran lobbyist and political consultant. A jury in Virginia, where Manafort lives, could be friendlier to the former Trump campaign chief than one drawn from Washington, D.C.

However, Manafort attorney Kevin Downing requested the Virginia case be set for sometime in November, after the Washington trial. Downing told Ellis the defense needs time to assemble legal motions in both cases and to prepare for the back-to-back trials.

"This is a massive indictment," the defense attorney said. “We were envisioning a trial in this case in November, following the case in D.C."

“You need to go back to the optometrist,” Ellis shot back.

  Politico

A jury might be friendlier, but the judge....not so much.

He told Downing he is free to ask for a delay if circumstances require it.

Considering the judge, I wouldn't advise it, unless it's seriously necessary. But maybe he could ask for a change of venue.

Mueller team prosecutor Andrew Weissmann supported an early trial in the Virginia case. He told Ellis the Alexandria trial could be relatively brief, lasting eight to 10 court days and involving 20 to 25 witnesses.

[...]

The garrulous Ellis, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, was quick to bring up the fact that neither the D.C. case nor the Virginia one appear to have any connection to that central issue Mueller was appointed to investigate.

"You'd like to point out it doesn't have anything to do with Russia [or] interfering in the election," Ellis said to Downing.

"You made my point," Manafort's attorney replied.

Downing said he plans to file motions in both the D.C. and Virginia cases arguing that Mueller has exceeded his mandate and has no legal authority to pursue the cases against Manafort.

I don't get why they keep flogging that idea. It's already been well established that there's no way for Mueller to exceed his mandate if anything in his investigation leads to something else. He couldn't just start out on a new course, but all the players, including the Russian mobsters involved in the Russian interference project are interconnected to Manafort (and Trump's) money laundering crimes. I guess if Manafort's lawyers want to drag this thing out, it might be a way to do it. I'm not sure wasting everybody's time is a good idea, however. Especially Judge Ellis.

Ellis expressed some irritation Thursday at the possibility of successive trials in the two cases, which do involve some overlap. A conspiracy charge filed in Washington encompasses the tax crimes that Mueller's team is pursuing in Virginia.

"Why should we be trying that charge twice?" the judge asked bluntly.

Weissmann said prosecutors offered Manafort's defense the chance to consolidate the charges in Washington, but they declined.

[...]

Downing suggested Manafort's team was willing to bring the D.C.-based charges to Alexandria, but Mueller's team declined. "We were actually thinking to try to get the conspiracy [charge] to come here," the defense attorney said.

[...]

The prosecutor said the D.C. charges are "properly venued" in Washington.

[...]

Under the law, Manafort is entitled to be tried in the district where some part of each alleged crime was committed. However, he can waive that right.

Ellis said he wouldn't press him to do that, but suggested it might be a good idea.

[...]

The 77-year-old judge seemed piqued by a couple of the Mueller's team's decisions. Reciting an anecdote in which another judge urged prosecutors to try their "three best counts," Ellis suggested the case might have too many charges packed into it.

"We have slimmed down this case," Weissmann replied, noting that only 18 counts will be left after charges against Manafort's former aide Gates are dropped as part of his plea deal struck last month.

[...]

Ellis, who stood behind the bench at times during Thursday's hearing, also expressed surprise that Mueller's team planned to go forward with the Alexandria case without having a prosecutor who regularly practices in the Virginia federal court.

The judge asked Weissmann whether he has ever tried a case in an unfamiliar court without a local attorney. Weissmann said he had.

"That was a mistake, wasn't it?" Ellis said.

Damn.  Sounds like Judge Ellis would like to retire. Or maybe his piles were acting up. At 77, I think he should probably be stepping down.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.