While 'Praying for a Pardon,' Roger Stone Appeals His Conviction to the DC Circuit
Stone recently hired appellate lawyer Paul Kamenar, who represented his associate Andrew Miller.
April 30, 2020 at 10:13 AM
4 minute read
Roger Stone on Thursday said he is appealing his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, shortly before he could be called in to report to federal prison.
He and his attorney Seth Ginsberg filed the notice of appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying he was appealing the judgment in his criminal case, his sentence and U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's denial of Stone's motion for a new trial.
Stone was convicted by a federal jury in November on charges of lying to the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia probe, as well as impeding the investigation and witness tampering. Jackson in February sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison, pending her ruling on his motion for a new trial.
He also has recently hired Paul Kamenar, an appellate attorney who represented Stone associate Andrew Miller in the legal fight against a subpoena for Miller's grand jury testimony in the federal investigation into Stone.
Kamenar argued special counsel Robert Mueller III's appointment was unconstitutional because he should have been Senate confirmed, an argument rejected by Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who found Miller to be in contempt.
Howell stayed her ruling while the case went up on appeal to the D.C. Circuit. But after the circuit ruled against Miller and later declined to rehear the case, the Stone associate agreed to end the 10-month legal battle and testify before the grand jury in May 2019, months after Stone was indicted and during the final days of the Mueller probe.
Stone has said he is "praying for a pardon" from President Donald Trump, but that he would appeal his conviction if he had to. The motion to appeal comes after documents were released in the case of former national security adviser Michael Flynn—who previously pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators—about FBI officials' handling of Flynn's questioning while he was under investigation. Tweets by Trump about those documents have inflamed speculation that Trump could pardon Flynn.
Stone has also recently expressed some frustration with his legal team. Stone told his friend, Frank Morano on the podcast "Morano Whenever," last week that he believed he would have been better off if he had represented himself during the trial and floated the idea of filing an ineffective counsel claim.
"In the judge's most recent decision, she basically said, 'Your lawyers should have known that.' I think she just bolstered such a claim," Stone said at the time.
Stone has been represented by a team of Fort Lauderdale attorneys, including past Supreme Court advocate Bruce Rogow and Robert Buschel, throughout his criminal case.
Stone also tapped Ginsberg earlier this year, as he filed a motion for a new trial alleging juror bias and misconduct.
The lawyers pointed to social media posts made by the jury's forewoman, Tomeka Hart—who identified herself after the four prosecutors who secured Stone's conviction dropped from the case after Main Justice interference in Stone's sentencing recommendation—alleging that she was biased against Stone.
Jackson, the judge in Stone's case, earlier this month denied Stone's motion and called it a "tower of indignation." She found Hart had been truthful on her juror questionnaire and was not biased against Stone during the proceedings.
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