U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III has told Paul Manafort he's no different than any other convicted felon in custody and has denied his request to wear a suit to court Friday.
Ellis oversaw Manafort’s trial in August and has summoned the longtime GOP operative, his lawyers and Mueller's prosecutors back to the courthouse to resolve a series of questions surrounding the special counsel’s plan to dismiss deadlocked charges against Manafort only after he’s finished cooperating in the Russia probe.
Ahead of the hearing, Manafort attorney Kevin Downing had asked Ellis for permission that his client be allowed to dress in street clothing on Friday and at all subsequent court appearances, rather than a dark-green prison jumpsuit.
But Ellis denied the request. In a brief footnote, the judge explained that while Manafort was allowed to wear street clothing during his trial as part of his right to due process, he’s now been convicted by a jury on multiple counts for filing false tax returns, failing to register his foreign bank accounts and bank fraud and also pleaded guilty in a federal court in Washington, D.C., to other criminal charges.
“Thus, defendant is no longer presumed innocent of the multiple criminal courts he stands convicted of, and therefore is not entitled to appear in street clothing at court proceedings,” Ellis wrote.
Judge Ellis has concerns about the timing of the potential to drop the remaining 10 deadlocked counts against Manafort as put forth in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's plea agreement. Mueller has said he will drop the charges only after Manafort's cooperation is complete.
In a two-page order last week, Ellis called the arrangement “highly unusual” for the federal district court in Northern Virginia where a government makes decisions to retry defendants on deadlocked counts “within two to no more than four months from entry of a guilty plea or receipt of a jury verdict.”
Addressing Ellis’ concerns, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann in a Wednesday filing said the special counsel’s office is ready for the judge to schedule Manafort’s sentencing date. Weissmann added that Manafort’s lawyers and the government were open to the deadlocked counts being dismissed at Manafort’s sentencing or when Manafort is finished with his cooperation, leaving the decision up to Ellis.
“To the extent the court seeks immediate action on the outstanding counts, the government does not oppose their dismissal without prejudice,” Weissmann wrote.
Manafort has met multiple times with Mueller’s prosecutors as part of the plea deal, and the special counsel and the former Trump campaign aide’s lawyers face a separate Nov. 16 deadline to file their first joint status report on his sentencing with the federal judge in Washington overseeing the case.
Judge orders Manafort to court in prison clothing (Politico)