Manafort judge emerges as skeptic of long mandatory minimum sentences

[DonViejo]

By JOSH GERSTEIN 07/06/2018 09:24 AM EDT

The judge overseeing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's looming trial on tax and bank fraud charges is known as a tough jurist, often snapping at attorneys for ignoring his directions and rebuking defendants he views as insufficiently contrite.

But, in recent years, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis has begun to direct his public ire at an unusual target for a Reagan-appointed judge: laws that impose lengthy mandatory minimum sentences judges have no authority to waive or reduce.

Ellis has complained directly to Congress about what he's called the "excessive" sentences required for some offenders. He's also publicly lamented the situation, as he did recently during a drug dealer's sentencing that took place in an Alexandria, Virginia courtroom packed with national media, high-powered prosecutors and others awaiting a key hearing in the case against Manafort.

"This situation presents me with something I have no discretion to change and the only thing I can do is express my displeasure," Ellis said last week as he sentenced Frederick Turner, 37, to a mandatory minimum of 40 years in prison for dealing methamphetamine. "I chafe a bit at that, but I follow the law. If I thought it was blatantly immoral, I'd have to resign. It's wrong, but not immoral."

more
https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2018/07/06/t-s-ellis-mandatory-minimum-sentences-697826

[marble falls]

1. I agree with the judge. But I'm willing to allow for an exception for Manafort.

[gratuitous]

2. Judge Ellis also said, "but I follow the law."

A lot of legal scholars and observers agree that mandatory minimum sentences are a bane on our system; Judge Ellis isn't alone in his position, and it's thoroughly within the mainstream of public legal discourse.

[RockRaven]

3. And nowhere did he say he was opposed to long sentences at the judge's discretion, which is

what Manafort ought to get.