Quarrels Continue as Judge Pushes Prosecutors in Manafort Trial
Judge T.S. Ellis III and prosecutor Greg Andrews again quarreled over the relevance of testimony and the trial's speed Wednesday.
August 08, 2018 at 02:01 PM
6 minute read
Judge T.S. Ellis III has emerged as much a character as any lawyer, witness or juror in the courtroom for the tax and bank fraud trial of Paul Manafort. He's quibbled and quarreled with lawyers, needled prosecutors over “extraneous” evidence and at times irked witnesses.
On Wednesday, lawyers moved through questioning of Rick Gates, an FBI accountant and an IRS agent. As dry testimony dominated the day, the judge's personality once again came into full display.
Here are some key exchanges from the seventh day of the Manafort's Virginia trial.
“Don't try my patience.”
After Rick Gates' examination wrapped up, prosecutors called FBI forensic accountant Morgan Magionos. She described how Manafort avoided reporting foreign income by transferring money from his foreign bank accounts into the pockets of various domestic vendors, such as a home improvement company, a clothier and others.
But for a quarter-hour leading up to her testimony, Ellis quarreled with prosecutors over the redundancy of the testimony—a recurring theme of the trial.
Manafort defense attorney Richard Westling took issue with some of the evidence she was about to raise—charts noting some of Manafort's payments to vendors—arguing it was repetitive of what domestic vendors who had already testified. “We've heard it all before,” he said.
But prosecutor Greg Andres disagreed. While vendors had testified about the “domestic half,” Magionos would capture the “whole picture” of the flow of money, he said.
When Ellis urged Andres to move things along, Andres fought back. The government, he said, had sharply focused its case for a long time and was not delaying the trial.
Ellis fired back: “I'm not saying you are.”
Later, on whether the lawyers on both sides had an agreement about what kinds of evidence could be introduced, Andres said “I apologize” if this seems argumentative, before he noted that defense lawyers hadn't offered a stipulation. At that point, Westling said he would offer one.
“I'm at a loss. We've prepared our case, we're ready to go,” Andres said. “And the defense now wants to stipulate? It would be quicker to get the witness on.”
The judge let the argument die down, but not without issuing a joke combined with a warning.
“Judges should be patient. They made a mistake when they confirmed me,” Ellis said to courtroom laughter. “Don't try my patience.”
During Magionos' testimony, the courtroom broke for lunch. Just before, Andres told the judge he had about an hour of direct examination of the FBI accountant left to go.
“I thought we were shortening it,” the judge said with a small smile.
Ellis Takes Aim at Another Prosecutor:
Just before bringing in the day's third witness—Michael Welch, an Internal Revenue Service agent—prosecutor Uzo Asonye consulted Downing for a moment. Ellis had something to say on the chatter.
“I encourage it if it's going to have the effect of shortening this proceeding,” he said.
One of the lawyers perked up: “Could we have a moment?”
“You could have a day,” Ellis replied.
As Asonye asked the judge if they could take their conversation outside, Ellis corrected himself. “Yes, you may, but I was only kidding about a day,” he said.
Ellis reserved harsher words for Asonye, as he and the Eastern District of Virginia prosecutor got into a row over whether Welch, an expert witness, had been permitted to attend the trial's proceedings before he testified.
It began when Asonye direct examined Welch and indicated the IRS agent had been in the courtroom, leading up to his testimony. Welch often sits in the front of Ellis' courtroom.
But that appeared to be news for Ellis, who stopped to tell Asonye that he barred witnesses from attending proceedings, “typically” only allowing case agents to sit in. The judge said that in this instance, he would let it slide.
But when Asonye referenced a transcript, which would indicate the judge had indeed allowed Welch to attend, Ellis snapped at the prosecutor: “Let me be clear, I don't care what the transcript said … don't do it again.”
“Fair enough, your honor,” Asonye said.
Talk of Infidelity Returns
The testimony of Rick Gates, the trial's star witness, wrapped up Wednesday morning, but not without one revelation that, once again, sent reporters darting out of Ellis' courtroom.
In a re-cross examination, Downing suggested Gates had engaged in four, instead of one, extramarital affair. “Do you recall telling the office of special counsel that you actually engaged in four extramarital affairs?” he asked Gates. That prompted an immediate objection from the U.S. on relevance grounds.
It goes to “to whether he lied yesterday,” Downing shot back.
As lawyers walked to the judge's bench for a sidebar discussion, multiple reporters raced out of the room. Gates, seated just feet away from the lawyers' conversation, stared ahead in silence.
Coming out of the bench conference, Downing appeared to back down, only referring back to Gates' “secret life” and how long it lasted.
“I've made many mistakes over many years, and I regret them,” Gates replied.
“Rocket Docket” Proceeding on Pace
Just before cutting out of court Wednesday evening, Ellis asked prosecutors how many more witnesses they intend to call up.
Andres said there were approximately eight witnesses left, with none likely to last more than an hour. The U.S. was “certainly on pace” to wrap up its case by the end of Friday, he said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'Good Law': DC Judge Denies Hogan Lovells Motion in Big Pharma Dispute
3 minute readTrump Counsel Again Asks Second Circuit to Remove NY State Case to Federal Court
Trending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: Playing the Talent Game to Win
- 2Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 3BD Settles Thousands of Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
- 4GlaxoSmithKline Settles Most Zantac Lawsuits for $2.2B
- 5A&O Shearman Adopts 3-Level Lockstep Pay Model Amid Shift to All-Equity Partnership
Who Got The Work
Blank Rome partner Andrew T. Hambelton has stepped in to defend Fragrancenet.com in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The case, filed Aug. 29 in New York Southern District Court by the Blakely Law Group, targets the defendants for allegedly selling counterfeit fragrance products. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, is 1:24-cv-06521, Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co. v. Quester (US) Enterprises, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Davis Polk & Wardwell partners Mari Grace and Edmund Polubinski III have entered appearances for Australia-based Bitcoin-mining company Iris Energy and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Eastern District Court by the Rosen Law Firm, contends that the defendants concealed the inadequacy of the company's site in Childress County, Texas, including it being 'ill-equipped' and unable to operate the company's proprietary design. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Peggy Kuo, is 1:24-cv-07046, Williams-Israel v. Iris Energy Limited et al.
Who Got The Work
Ryan S. Stippich of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren has entered an appearance for biopharmaceutical company Veru Inc. and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Sept. 30 in Wisconsin Western District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of June Ovadias, accuses the defendant of failing to disclose that small sample sizes and other issues rendered it unlikely that the FDA would grant Emergency Use Authorization for the cancer drug candidate sabizabulin as a potential treatment for COVID-19. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge William M. Conley, is 3:24-cv-00676, Ovadias, June v. Steiner, Mitchell et al.
Who Got The Work
Holland & Knight partners Cynthia A. Gierhart and Thomas Willcox Brooke have entered appearances for Pakistani American Political Action Committee and Rao Kamran Ali in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The action, filed Sept. 24 in District of Columbia District Court by Jackson Walker on behalf of Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee, accuses the defendants of using a mark that's confusingly similar to the plaintiff's 'Pak-Pac' marks without authorization. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, is 1:24-cv-02727, Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee v. Pakistani American Political Action Committee et al.
Who Got The Work
Lauren M. Rosenberg and Yonatan Even of Cravath, Swaine & Moore have stepped in to represent Israel-based Oddity Tech Ltd. in a pending securities class action. The case, filed Aug. 30 in New York Southern District Court by Pomerantz LLP and Holzer & Holzer, contends that the defendant made materially misleading statements regarding the capability of Oddity's AI technology and ongoing civil litigation, resulting in the artifical inflation of the market price of Oddity's securities. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett, is 1:24-cv-06571, Hoare v. Oddity Tech Ltd. et al.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250