Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday said attacks from President Donald Trump and commentary from conservative media are part of a campaign of intimidation and harassment of jurors in Roger Stone's criminal case.
Jackson read the President's tweet attacking the Stone jury forewoman, as well as commentary from InfoWars' Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson from Fox News, to a federal courtroom, in deciding to hear testimony from jurors while protecting their identities after Stone asked for a retrial.
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"In a highly publicized political climate ... the risk of harassment and intimidation of any juror" who may testify to the court today "is extremely high."
"While judges may have volunteered for their positions ... jurors are not volunteers," Jackson said. "They are deserving of the public's respect."
The hearing is ongoing, and at least one juror may be called to testify Tuesday afternoon in a closed courtroom.
Trump has in fact tweeted about the Stone juror during the hearing.
MSN
If the country ever gets rid of this abusive, unfit POS, we will still have to go through serious recovery from the trauma, like when a woman finally divorces an abusive husband and escapes with her life and her children. The damage done may be permanent.In a decision this weekend to dey Stone's attempt to remove her from the case, Jackson noted Stone's recent requests of the court may be more publicity stunts than legal pleadings.
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"At bottom, given the absence of any factual or legal support for the motion for disqualification, the pleading [asking for the Jackson's recusal] appears to be nothing more than an attempt to use the Court's docket to disseminate a statement for public consumption that has the words 'judge' and 'biased' in it," she wrote.
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Questions over the jury forewoman have allowed Stone and Trump to publicly try to muddy his conviction. Stone has pursued the request for a new trial in court and unsuccessfully tried to remove Jackson from handling his case, while Trump has commented on the case several times in recent days, regarding both the judge and the forewoman.
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Trump has attacked the jury forewoman multiple times publicly, calling the juror's unanimous findings of Stone's guilt on all seven charges he faced "tainted."
"You have a juror that is obviously tainted. She was an activist against Trump. She said bad things about Trump and bad things about Stone," the President claimed over the weekend. "She somehow weaseled her way onto the jury and if that's not a tainted jury then there is no such thing as a tainted jury."
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At the start of Stone's November trial, both prosecutors and Stone's defense team were then able to question potential jurors and challenge them from sitting on the jury. They questioned the jury forewoman, Tomeka Hart, about her background and her ability to judge Stone impartially, according to a transcript of the trial's first day. Before the judge, she told them she could evaluate the evidence in the case fairly. Stone's team didn't challenge her from being seated on the jury.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
UPDATE:
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