Just listened to the podcast of the Rachel Maddow show from last night re: Paul Manafort’s sentence in the Eastern District of Virginia case. He had been convicted on 8 of 18 counts, and the jury hung on the other 10. Apparently the vote on the other 10 counts was 11 to 1 in favor of conviction — only a single juror refused to convict him on all the counts against him.
The sentencing guidelines called for 19-24 years, but Judge Hate-The-Special-Counsel Ellis sentenced him to only 47 months. While that looks like almost 4 years, it’s actually only about 3 years because the judge included the 9 months he’s been in jail as part of the 47 months (and “good time” reduces it further).
Several guests on Maddow’s show made strong comments on the light sentence imposed on Manafort by Judge Ellis.
But Barbara McQuade said it best.
Well I still think this is an absurdly low sentence in light of the guidelines
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One of the things you often see in cases is judges who impose very lenient sentences against white collar defendants
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To drop down from 19 years to 24 years all the way down to 4 years, I think suggests that the wealthy and the powerful do better in court than many other defendants do. And I think it is an attack on the legitimacy of the justice system. If you are someone who is indigent or lacking in power, I think you look at a sentence like this and it causes people to have less trust in the criminal justice system
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Responding to Maddow’s question about whether Manafort’s failure to show remorse and accept responsibility during this court appearance was aimed at getting a pardon from Trump, McQuade said no.
Then she said this — which I thought was eloquent and passionate and demonstrated the depth of her character and her devotion to justice:
McQuade:
And in fact, ordinarily part of the pardon is an acceptance of responsibility and remorse. What I think this is instead is arrogance. And you see it very frequently in white collar cases where the defendant comes in and says, “I feel so much shame, your honor. I have been punished enough already. Why I can’t even go into my country club without feeling a sense of shame and getting letters from prominent people to write support for a lenient sentence.”
Tell that to the indigent defendant who doesn’t have the opportunity to make those arguments. I think it is the arrogance that goes with being wealthy and powerful.
Maddow:
Barbara McQuade, former US Attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan. It is an honor to have you as a colleague always but especially on nights like this. Thank you.
I included Rachel’s thank you to McQuade in this transcript, but text cannot describe Maddow’s tone — she was clearly very affected by what McQuade said, as was I.
Barbara McQuade shows the kind of sensitivity we need in our justice system.
Note: the above is my transcription of what she said. I checked it carefully but can’t promise it’s entirely error free.