Judge Dismisses State Charges Against Paul Manafort, Clearing the Way for Pardon

[Calista241]

Source: Law & Crime

A New York judge on Wednesday morning “hastily dismissed” state mortgage fraud charges against onetime Trump 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort–paving the way for a presidential pardon.

Manhattan Supreme Justice Maxwell Wiley tossed the 16-count indictment against Manafort without discussion or explanation during a hearing which reportedly lasted all of 90 seconds.

The dismissal comes as an implicit rebuke of Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Cyrus Vance, Jr., who had prosecuted Manafort in an effort to ensure that President Donald Trump would not be able to pardon the disgraced Republican lobbyist.

Manafort was previously convicted of multiple federal crimes related to essentially the same set of facts that led to his New York State charges. A president, however, can only pardon federal crimes. State crimes are outside the purview of the president’s pardon power.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/judge-dismisses-state-charges-against-paul-manafort-clearing-the-way-for-pardon/

[BKDem]

1. This sucks.

And smells bad.

[BlueIdaho]

2. Let's hope there are other charges pending... nt.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Judge dismisses ... charges against ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort on double jeopardy grounds

Hat tip, Joe.My.God:

New York Judge Tosses Charges Against Manafort
December 18, 2019

POLITICS
Judge dismisses New York state criminal charges against ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort on double jeopardy grounds
PUBLISHED WED, DEC 18 201910:05 AM EST UPDATED 11 MIN AGO
....

A judge on Wednesday dismissed New York state criminal charges filed against former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort on double jeopardy grounds — thwarting an effort to ensure Manafort remains behind bars even if President Donald Trump ends up pardoning him for federal crimes that he was convicted of previously.

Manafort, 70, had faced charges of mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records in the case, which was filed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. immediately after the longtime Republican operative was sentenced earlier this year to seven-and-a-half years in prison on federal charges.

Manafort's lawyer, Todd Blanche, argued that the state charges were barred by double jeopardy — which prevents a defendant from being prosecuted twice for the same crime — because they related to mortgage applications that were the subject of Manafort's federal trial last year.

Manafort was convicted at a federal trial and in a subsequent guilty plea in another federal court last year of multiple crimes related to money he earned from consulting work for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine, a role that predated his service to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

In a 26-page ruling issued in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, Judge Maxwell Wiley agreed with Blanche's argument, noting that Vance's office "conceded that the charges" against Manafort in the federal indictment against him "were based on the same acts and transactions that form the basis of all the charges in this New York State indictment."
....

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. I thought NY changed their laws re: double jeopardy?

They used to have a law that nullified state charges based on federal charges, but I thought that was changed in the past year or so.

[rurallib]

18. If Manafort is pardoned then, could the state then bring the charges again

since there was no penalty for violations since he was pardoned?

OOPs should have read further - answered in #5

[MontanaMama]

4. Of course.

this is horrible news.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. This move may ensure that Manafort *won't* be pardoned, according to the cited article:

"Under the terms of that recently-enacted law, however, Manafort would have to be pardoned or receive some other form of clemency–such as sentence commutation–before prosecutors could refile charges without running afoul of the Empire State’s constitutional protections against Double Jeopardy prosecution." If under NY law, prosecuting Manafort on state charges constitutes double jeopardy, the state charges would have had to be dismissed. So then let's say Trump pardons Manafort for the federal crimes for which he is now in prison. Since a pardon vitiates a conviction, this would apparently allow the state of New York to re-file its criminal complaint. If Manafort is then convicted on state charges Trump can't pardon him.

I think this is going to be litigated further, even if there is no pardon, because prosecutors can appeal from the dismissal of a criminal complaint because jeopardy doesn't attach until there is a final judgment of conviction.

[fleur-de-lisa]

13. Good to know . . . thanks for posting.

[Mc Mike]

20. Good info, thanks TVO. rec, nt

[ffr]

6. I hope someone eggs this fucker's house.

I also hope he has a stroke on his drive home tonight. This is not what our laws are made for, so that the powerful can skate responsibility. Fuck Manafort!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. You'd harass a judge and wish him dead because he followed the law?

He wasn't trying to do Manafort a favor; he was doing what NY law required him to do. Sometimes the law requires results you don't like much but that doesn't mean it can be ignored. That's what Trump does.

[fleur-de-lisa]

14. Please read post #5 above. Very illuminating.

[Polybius]

23. Way over the line

The judge does not deserve any of that.

[stopdiggin]

26. result would appear to be almost inescapable

given state law against double jeopardy. Outrage shows a lack of understanding (or concern with the law).

[Sneederbunk]

7. Manafort's "illness" could be a set-up for Xmas pardon.

[Calista241]

9. Trump can pardon him any time he wants to.

involving others in a scheme sounds like a bad decision. He'd have to get guards, the hospital and numerous others involved for no perceptible gain.

Not to say I don't think Manafort will be pardoned, and Christmas does sound like a more convenient time than any other.

[Sneederbunk]

10. "Illness" gives Trump excuse and cover.

[eggplant]

16. Trump requires neither.

[Sneederbunk]

17. He might not require it but be gets it. Impeachment proceedings are going on.

[Gothmog]

11. I suspect that this ruling will be appealed

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. I think it will. Since the prosecutors can appeal a dismissal

because there was no final judgment of conviction, they'll probably do it. The question will probably be whether the state charges against Manafort are so similar to the federal charges for which he was convicted that double jeopardy should attach pursuant to the New York statute. The amendment to the existing statute allows prosecution for a state crime if a person was pardoned for the similar federal crime, in effect retroactively eliminating double jeopardy.

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A06653&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Text=Y

[Pachamama]

28. +10000

This....

[Cryptoad]

19. Give this JUdge some,,,,

Oligarch money in his Off Shore account!, Well done good and faithful servant.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. See #5. The judge had no choice but to follow the law.

Would you have judges ignore laws if they don't comport with the result you want? A New York state statute provides that prosecution for a crime under state law that is substantially the same as a federal crime for which the defendant has already been convicted constitutes double jeopardy, which is unconstitutional. What do you think the judge should have done, considering the provisions of that statute?

However, under an amendment to this statute, if Trump pardons Manafort for the federal crimes for which he is now in prison, that double jeopardy prohibition goes away and he can then be prosecuted for the state offense.

[DeminPennswoods]

22. Trump could care less about Manafort

Trump used and now has discarded Manafort who is no longer useful to him.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. Actually, he *couldn't* care less about Manafort.

[DeminPennswoods]

29. Distinction without a difference

but I am not going to go around in circles with you about it.

[onenote]

25. I know folks don't like the result in this casa, but the New York law on double jeopardy

is something that was pushed for by progressives -- in particular the ACLU. Why? Because protecting individuals from being serially prosecuted is something that has been an important progressive value.

[stopdiggin]

27. not only for progressives

just sound jurisprudence and justice