Manafort Kept in Solitary 23 Hours a Day to 'Guarantee His Safety,' Lawyer Says

[babylonsister]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/manafort-kept-in-solitary-23-hours-a-day-lawyer-says.html

July 6, 2018 11:49 am
Manafort Kept in Solitary 23 Hours a Day to ‘Guarantee His Safety,’ Lawyer Says
By Adam K. Raymond


Paul Manafort is being kept in solitary confinement in a Virginia jail in order to “guarantee his safety,” his lawyer said in court documents filed this week. “He is locked in his cell for at least 23 hours per day (excluding visits from his attorneys),” defense attorney Kevin Downing wrote.

In a brief filed Thursday, Downing wrote that Manafort is unable to adequately prepare for his two upcoming trails, the first of which starts later this month, while locked up. Manafort’s lawyers also argued that the witness-tampering charges that landed him in jail are not so bad because they did not include threats of physical violence. So they’re asking that Manafort be released.

Prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office were having none of it. In its own filing, Mueller’s team said Manafort’s attempt to tamper with witnesses is “no less damaging to the justice system when committed through covert corrupt persuasion than through overt violence.” Last month, Manafort was accused of trying to influence witness testimony while he was under house arrest.

They also wrote that Manafort does not deserve special treatment since the limitations he’s facing “are common to defendants incarcerated pending trial.”

Manafort has reportedly been locked away in the “VIP” section of Virginia’s Northern Neck Regional Jail since he arrived on June 15. John Dowd, former lawyer to President Trump, has called the imprisonment “harsh” and an “outrageous violation” of Manafort’s civil liberties.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Criminal decides he doesn't like prison

What else is new.

[Raster]

6. and in other news, water is wet.

[Sneederbunk]

10. He will be complaining about the food next.

[sellitman]

2. Sucks to be caught red handed.

Hopefully the time spent makes him that much closer to flipping.

[Raster]

3. Just remember Paul: Putin's reach is long...

..."We have no idea how Mr. Manafort ingested polonium (or any other higher tech poison)." I'd stay put if I were you, and I'd also consider turning state's evidence and getting a confidential informant gig with a new identity.

[eleny]

4. "... unable to adequately prepare for his two upcoming trails....

.... while locked up."

Aw, he can't reach and tamper with potential witnesses. Well, it's time for him to

[NewJeffCT]

5. womp womp

I really don't care, do you?

[empedocles]

7. Thought Virginia VIP meant 'no roomies', not isolation.

?

[Achilleaze]

8. Fellow jailbirds hate millionaire republican TRAITORS to America

of course

[gratuitous]

9. Wait, Manafort has an attorney?

If four year old asylum seekers don't need an attorney, why does Paul Manafort need an attorney?

[Leghorn21]

14. Oh, look at YOU, gratuitous!!!

FUCKING WELL DONE

[demtenjeep]

11. womp womp

let him out in gen pop then

let nature take care of its problems

[DeminPennswoods]

16. Like those lions took care of the rhino poachers

...

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

12. I agree. keep him nice and safe through the trial. "Guys get clumsy. Trip down a flight

of stairs into a bag of glass..... Russian glass. We don't want him getting too chatty. You know what I'm talking about...."

[Snellius]

17. Right. Don't want any more episodes of Homeland.

That novichok is getting around it seems.

[RKP5637]

13. Not up to his accustom accommodations, I guess. Well, WTF. It's a jail ... n/t

[Horse with no Name]

15. Maybe they should put him in gen pop

With some of Vlads pals.