Joy-for-Rachel saying MANAFORT's atty asked ELLIS to *ORDER* concurrent sentence from JACKSON

[UTUSN]

A-hole ELLIS said he couldn't "order" it but that the next judge can do (or not).

[Me.]

1. LIkely To Alienate Judge Jackson

Pretty stupid of Manafort's lawyers

[Baitball Blogger]

9. They see something we don't.

Their loyalists are everywhere, and we've already seen how they don't play by the rules that apply to us.

[Me.]

12. What/Who?

Harvey the Rabbitt?

[Baitball Blogger]

13. They live in a different world than we do.

We keep thinking we know all the options if they follow the rules. But they don't, do they?

[Me.]

15. It Will Catch Up With Them, It Always Does

You just never know

[RockRaven]

2. What kind of asshat attorney doesn't know that Ellis doesn't have the authority to do such a thing?

Sounds like they were trying to tee up a moronic justification for Trump to glom onto to excuse a pardon, i.e. that Jackson exceeded her authority by disobeying Ellis, or something.

[bullwinkle428]

3. Almost as if they got their law degree from Trump University!

[TwilightZone]

6. One who is grandstanding.

And has a receptive audience, even if that audience couldn't do anything about it.

[The Truth Is Here]

4. My hope is that Manafart's DC sentence handed down is much longer

25 years to life, and he must serve the first 5 with hard labor.

[pnwmom]

16. The max she can sentence him is 5 years for each of the two counts. n/t

[wishstar]

5. Even if she orders a concurrent sentence of 8 to 10 years, he'll be locked up a very long time

My hunch is she will order a lengthy but concurrent sentence since judges tend to only order consecutive sentences for violent offenders

[Jersey Devil]

8. Isn't the max 5 years on each count in DC?

If that is so, then the sentences would have to be consecutive to each other for any total sentence to be over 5 years.

[Nevilledog]

14. That's not been my experience.

Judges order consecutive sentences for non-violent offenses quite regularly. They look at dates of offenses, type of offenses, number of victims (if applicable). I always believed judges come up with a number in their head that they believe is appropriate and then structure it concurrently or consecutively to reach that number.

[Snackshack]

7. Really?

Manafort’s lawyer asked Judge Ellis to “order” not recommend but “order” Judge Jackson to make sentences concurrent? If true that is a pretty bold and outlandish thing to do because certainly a lawyer would know that a judge could not do that and it could have serious consequences for Manafort. Wow.

[Jersey Devil]

10. Did the lawyer really say that?

It sounds like an incredibly dumb thing for any lawyer to say.

[Snackshack]

11. IDK

I did not see TRMS tonight. If it is true that would be incredible and very not too bright thing to do.

[jberryhill]

18. You can't win if you don't play

Lawyers ask for all kinds of things from judges. They get denied and move on.

Judges, in general, are not as spiteful and petty as they are frequently imagined to be.

The lawyer is seeking the minimum possible sentence for his client. He can ask the judge to order Manafort get Rice Krispies every morning. The judge would likely say “denied” and move on.

I think every lawyer has seen another lawyer ask a judge for some weird stuff.

[Princess Turandot]

17. FYI Zoe Tillman (Buzzfeed New's law reporter) made mention of that in her article on the hearing...

The second sentence was another doozy by Ellis. I can imagine Manafort's attorneys' asking their question, although I'm surprised they didn't know the answer already. Perhaps Manafort asked them to do so.

Manafort's lawyer Kevin Downing asked Ellis on Thursday if the judge would be able to order Manafort's two sentences to run at the same time, but Ellis said that was up to Jackson. The judge said Manafort's lawyers could come back to him later if they found legal precedent that would give Ellis the power to do that.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/paul-manafort-prison-sentence-virginia-mueller-probe