Judge Ellis begins court with mea culpa for outburst over expert

[kpete]

Manafort prosecutors get what they wanted:

Judge Ellis tells the jury he was wrong in criticizing prosecutors yesterday for having a witnesses, an IRS agent, in the room to hear other witness testimony.

“Put aside any criticism. I was probably wrong in that," Ellis said


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/08/09/paul-manafort-trial-day-8-live-coverage/?utm_term=.99e891742caa

Link to tweet

[Greybnk48]

1. Sounds like we have another Judge Lance Ito

on our hands, rolling in the spotlight like a dog on a stinky spot.

[TheBlackAdder]

16. On Rachel, an attorney who's been in front of that judge says he's been that way for 30 years.

.

He does it to make better attorneys out of them.

.

[Ponietz]

20. And a good lawyer tries to make better judges out of them.

Call them by their first name early on, that changes the dynamic pretty quickly.

[Towlie]

21. "He does it to make better attorneys out of them"? Is he running a court or a law school?

Judge T. S. Ellis III was appointed by Ronald Reagan.

Salon says:

Ellis has been outspoken from the get-go about his skepticism regarding Mueller's probe of Manafort, earning fulsome praise from Trump in the process.

In May, Ellis reprimanded Mueller's prosecutors by declaring that "you don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud. You really care about getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment," according to The Guardian. The judge later added, "We don’t want anyone in this country with unfettered power. It’s unlikely you’re going to persuade me the special prosecutor has power to do anything he or she wants. The American people feel pretty strongly that no one has unfettered power."

[erronis]

23. Wow, just wow. "The American people feel pretty strongly that no one has unfettered power."

The judge later added, "We don’t want anyone in this country with unfettered power. It’s unlikely you’re going to persuade me the special prosecutor has power to do anything he or she wants. The American people feel pretty strongly that no one has unfettered power."

Since when does a judge get away with determining what "the American people" want? S/he is supposed to be applying the rule of the law and judgments which are above popularity contests.

[Loki Liesmith]

26. He can run pretty much whatever he wants

As long as he follows the law and ethics guidelines.

[emulatorloo]

2. See also TPM article, includes more information

Judge Tells Jury 'Put Aside' His Criticism of Manafort Trial Prosecutors
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142129990

[Stallion]

8. An Expert Witness Can Rely on the Testimony of Other Witnesses Despite Not Having Personal Knowlege

....if it is the type of evidence that an expert in his field of expertise would normally rely upon to form his opinion.

[More_Cowbell]

10. It's not that. It's that the witness was in the courtroom before his testimony

The attorneys made their usual motion to exclude all witnesses (so they wouldn't be in the courtroom until it was their turn to testify, and wouldn't hear anything else that had gone on) but excepted this FBI agent. The judge asked the defense attorney, who agreed.

Then, as usual, when the agent was on the witness stand, he was asked if he'd been in the courtroom. When he said "yes," the judge blew up, forgetting that he'd signed off on it.

[Stallion]

13. That's Exactly Why the Prosecution Asked Permission to Allow the Expert to Remain in Courtroom

there has to be an exception to "the Rule"-RCP 615-which is otherwise mandatory. The exception for him to stay in the courtroom in this case was so he could base his expert testimony on the facts elicited from other witnesses on which his opinion might rely.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_615

[Sanity Claws]

3. Probably wrong?

This asshile was definitely wrong and his inability to admit it shows he cares more about himself than justice. Get him out of the courtroom! Impeach the old fucker.

[Hortensis]

11. Fwiw, an ex-prosecutor who came before him many

times says he's actually been top notch intellectually and judicially in spite of harassing the attorneys. He's been prone to going after prosecutors especially for decades, but it did not affect his rulings.

It's possible he's corrupted, but it's also possible he's gotten carried away and is realizing he needs to pull it in. Every adjective is being scrutinized.

Lol. On O'Donnell, someone pointed out that the prosecutor he accused of crying in court once went up against the Bonanno crime family and continued his prosecution with round-the-clock protection while they tried to kill him.

[deurbano]

17. I've read that, too, that he's always been cranky... yet brilliant... but that seemed like a pretty

big memory lapse, so I wonder if that "brilliance" is starting to fade.

[Hortensis]

27. Yes! Observers might get an idea going forward.

He reportedly likes attention, but this degree of scrutiny should cause him to be less indulgent and more careful. And if he isn't...?

[onit2day]

19. So much pressure on all of them to get it right.

[Nitram]

22. If there's that much pressure to get it right, maybe he should assume a lower profile.

[Fullduplexxx]

4. Still a politician in robes and someone tried to convince me otherwise.

[honest.abe]

5. Wow. Whenever the judge is bigger news than the case there is definitely something wrong.

Its very unfortunate as this case is very important.

[Princess Turandot]

6. When Uzo Asonye, the prosecutor who was handling this part of the trial...

reminded Ellis that he had given them permission to do what they did vis a vis the tax expert on the first day of the trial, the judge blew up at him. He kind of threatened him, telling him to keep in mind that as a prosecutor in that district, he could well appear in his courtroom again.

I'm glad that they filed a complaint.

[sprinkleeninow]

7. "I was PROBABLY wrong in that."

WRONG!
You were undoubtedly wrong in that. Sheesh.

💙🇺🇸🌊

[Brother Buzz]

9. Judge Ellis is just a little edgy because he realizes he should have reported it when boys wearing

dark glasses and trench coats gave him that big sack of money.

[erronis]

24. And said they'd be waiting outside to take him home.....

[Brother Buzz]

25. You'd think a judge would have comprehended the small print in that verbal.....

No-Cut-Contract.

[UTUSN]

12. I say again & again, for me it's about his f***ing *behavior* influencing the jury

And it's been posted many times by his apologists that his comments against the prosecution are "outside of the jury's hearing" but there have been multiple incidents when he has carried on in front of the jury.

And we have plenty of our legalistic pundits here justifying him on the basis that his rulings have been "correct."

I'm no lawyer and have no pretense about special insight, am not focused on legalisms, just on the *intangibles* of behavior and emotion and how whimsical many outcomes can be.

I just hope that the incontrovertible parts of the evidence overwhelm this f***ing judge's despicable behavior.

[Equinox Moon]

14. Factoid: Reagan appointed. 78 years old.

[VaBchTgerLily]

15. there is something wrong with this judge!

[C Moon]

18. He had to sleep on it? Or talk to someone about it?