A juror from Roger Stone’s trial voiced dismay with the Justice Department’s handling of the longtime GOP operative’s sentencing recommendation.
Tomeka Hart, who once ran for Congress as a Democrat in Tennessee, wrote a post on Facebook explaining that she can not “keep quiet” about Stone’s case after the Justice Department intervened to pursue a more lenient punishment after President Trump called prosecutors’ initial seven-to-nine-year guidance a “miscarriage of justice.”
In the post, which was obtained by CNN, Hart thanked the four prosecutors who dropped from the case after the DOJ backtracked. She wrote, “I want to stand up for Aaron Zelinsky, Adam Jed, Michael Marando, and Jonathan Kravis — the prosecutors on the Roger Stone trial. It pains me to see the DOJ now interfere with the hard work of the prosecutors. They acted with the utmost intelligence, integrity, and respect for our system of justice.”
Stone, a confidant of Trump for decades, was convicted in November of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.
Hart’s statement drew attention her Twitter history, where she shared dozens of tweets laden with anti-Trump sentiment, including one retweet of a post which said, “Roger Stone has y’all talking about reviewing use of force guidelines: Not Anton Sterling, not Eric Garner, not Walter Scott, not Sandra Bland.”
????
Look at her retweet about Roger Stone’s arrest.
h/t: @FuarFearg pic.twitter.com/Uj7H4y8ak1
— Shem Horne (@Shem_Infinite) February 13, 2020
On the questionnaire for jurors, each respondent was asked if they or a close family member had run for office or if they had posted anything “for public consumption” about special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. It is not clear whether Hart, who was the forewoman for the trial, misled the attorneys in any way prior to her selection. It was reported during the trial that Hart ran for office as a Democrat.
On Thursday morning, Trump addressed Hart’s political background, writing, “Now it looks like the fore person in the jury, in the Roger Stone case, had significant bias. Add that to everything else, and this is not looking good for the ‘Justice’ Department.”
Now it looks like the fore person in the jury, in the Roger Stone case, had significant bias. Add that to everything else, and this is not looking good for the “Justice” Department. @foxandfriends @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2020
Even before prosecutors made their sentencing recommendation, Stone’s attorneys requested a new trial alleging that the jurors were “biased” against Trump’s longtime associate. His attorneys singled out two jurors, one who worked for the IRS on criminal tax matters and one who “violated the court’s order to avoid media coverage of the case.” The judge denied Stone’s request for a new trial.
