Roger Stone's Defense Already Wants New Judge in Mueller Case
Defense lawyers questioned the fairness of assigning Stone's case to Judge Amy Berman Jackson instead of randomly assigning it under local rules for criminal cases.
February 08, 2019 at 12:57 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
Roger Stone. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi
Roger Stone's criminal case has barely been before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington for more than a week, and his defense lawyers are already trying to get a new judge.
Stone's legal team on Friday questioned the fairness of assigning the case to Jackson as a related case instead of randomly assigning it under local criminal rules. Random assignments are an essential element of due process to ensure a fair trial, Stone's lawyers said in their request for a new judge.
Jackson has been handling many of the cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller III's team as it investigates Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors linked Stone's case with that of Viktor Netyksho, a Russian named in a separate indictment tied to a hack targeting the Democratic National Committee. The designation of a related case gave Jackson the assignment.
“At first blush and without the benefit of discovery, there is nothing about these cases that suggests they are suitably related, other than they are both brought by the Office of Special Counsel,” according to Stone's request for a new judge.
Stone is represented by Fort Lauderdale attorneys Bruce Rogow, Grant Smith of StrategySmith and Robert Buschel of Fort Lauderdale's Buschel Gibbons and L. Peter Farkas of Halloran Farkas & Kittila in Washington.
Stone pleaded not guilty to lying to and attempting to obstruct U.S. House Intelligence Committee investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and attempting to pressure a witness to lie to the panel.
Jackson is by far not alone in presiding over Mueller cases in Washington. Other judges either assigned or designated to oversee Russia-related prosecutions including Emmet Sullivan, Dabney Friedrich and Randolph Moss.
In a separate filing Friday, lawyers for Stone objected to any attempt to restrict his speech during the criminal case after Jackson floated the idea of a gag order. His lawyers described him as a “writer and speaker” and said any gag order “would serve no compelling government interest.”
“While Roger Stone may be familiar to those who closely follow American politics, he is hardly ubiquitous in the larger landscape of popular consciousness,” Stone's lawyers said. “An example of how limited and narrow his public presence is, is that Kim Kardashian has 59.5 million followers on Twitter. By contrast, Roger Stone has no Twitter account at all and thus has no Twitter followers.”
Stone was arrested in a predawn FBI raid at his Fort Lauderdale home Jan. 25, prompting Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham to request a briefing from the FBI on its tactics.
Read more:
Judge Warns Roger Stone This Is 'Not a Public Relations Campaign'
Discovery in Roger Stone Case Is 'Voluminous and Complex,' Mueller Team Says
Roger Stone's Legal Team Didn't Exactly Get Off to a Great Start in DC
Mike Scarcella contributed to this report.
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