Manafort Trial, Day 11: We'll find out if Paul Manafort's lawyers plan to put on any witnesses, and hear arguments on Manafort's motion for acquittal. The prosecution rested yesterday -- for a recap of that: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Update on this morning's proceedings:
- The judge denied Manafort's motion for acquittal (not so surprising, these motions tend to be longshots, and by law the analysis favors the prosecution)
- The defense rested — Manafort will not present any witnesses, and will not testify
- The judge denied Manafort's motion for acquittal (not so surprising, these motions tend to be longshots, and by law the analysis favors the prosecution)
- The defense rested — Manafort will not present any witnesses, and will not testify
We did not go in until 11:30am — there were proceedings, but they were sealed. We did not hear what that was about. Up next: The jury will officially hear that the defense rests, and then they'll be sent home for the day. Then, the lawyers will discuss jury instructions
Once they've finalized the instructions, and the judge may deal with one other issue, he said we'll be done for the day. Closing arguments will start tomorrow morning, and then final instructions to the jury, and then deliberations
Day 11: No acquittal by the judge, and the defense rests with no witnesses of its own. The judge asked if Paul Manafort wanted to testify. "No sir," he replied.
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
The jury came back at 1:30pm, was told that the defense rested, and then was dismissed for the rest of the day. The lawyers asked for more time to review the judge's proposed jury instructions, which they'll discuss when we return at 3:30pm. Earlier: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Done for the day. On jury instructions, the lawyers were largely in agreement, and asked for a few additions/deletions. The govt did ask to revise a section re: how the jury should consider comments made by the judge — that's been a source of tension, see: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
There was then a notable exchange. Judge Ellis asked prosecutors if he (the judge) had made comments about witness testimony. AUSA Uzo Asonye paused. Then, his colleague Greg Andres got up and said, "Yes." Ellis asked for examples.
Andres then recalled when Rick Gates testified that Manafort closely tracked his business affairs, and the judge noted aloud that Manafort didn't know that Gates was stealing from him
So what happens tomorrow? We're set to start with closing arguments. We haven't learned yet if the govt plans to cut down their presentation from 2 hours to 1.5 hours, which the judge strongly suggested. And then the jury will hear instructions, and begin to deliberate
And for a recap on the events of Day 11: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
