Manafort will also get credit by BOP for the months served in pretrial detention.
This judge obviously knows that Manafort faces sentencing in D.C. in a few days. The D.C. charges are different than the Virginia charges. But in pleading guilty in D.C. to reduced charges, Manafort admitted he committed the conduct charged in the hung counts in Virginia. Each charge in D.C. carries a maximum of 5 years, which could be run together with or consecutive to each other and to the Virginia sentence. I think the Virginia Judge took that into consideration in determining his sentence. He raised it during a hearing on October 31 (Document 306), when he asked if the parties had agreed on concurrent sentences between D.C. and Virginia, and said he was troubled by the prospect of Manafort being sentenced in two courts for the same conduct.
The plea agreement in the D.C. case stated that both parties would ask for a concurrent sentence on the conspiracy charge pertaining to the tax and FBAR offense with the Virginia sentence. But the Government asserts it was relieved of all obligations when the D.C. Court found Manafort to be in breach of the agreement. I won't be surprised if the D.C. judge decides to make at least one of his sentences for conspiracy (maximum 5 years each) consecutive to the Virginia sentence, which would mean his total sentence could be 107 months.
Update: 4:40 p.m. (MT): The Judge is back on the bench. He says the sentencing guideline range is excessive. He states that Manafort lived an otherwise blameless life (meaning he had incurred no criminal charges prior to the Mueller Indictments.] He said he's been a generous friend and earned the admiration of numerous people.
Update: 4:25 pm (MT): Paul Manafort just spoke. He said he has been humiliated and shunned while in solitary. He talked about his family and said solitary confinement has been very hard on him. He said, "I know it is my conduct that brought me here," and "My life —personally and professionally — is in shambles." He didn't apologize for his offenses(reportedly the Judge already said during the hearing that he wouldn't give him any credit for acceptance of responsibility under the guidelines.) He asked for compassion from the judge. He told the Judge that he had been very fair with him and thanked him for giving him a fair trial.
The experts on TV are ridiculous. One woman on CNN just said Manafort's age is not a proper consideration for the judge. Wrong. The Judge can consider anything about Paul Manafort that he wants. She needs to go re-read the 18 USC 3553(a) factors. The guidelines are just the starting point, not mandatory and judges consider many, many personal factors (age, health, prior good works, conditions during childhood (abuse, poverty, etc.) to arrive at a fair and just sentence.
Team Mueller argued they got nothing they didn't already know from Mueller's 50 hours of debriefing. Doesn't that mean Manafort didn't provide them with anything useful about the Trump campaign's "collusion"? Also, keep in mind that had he not lied about the three or four things he lied about while cooperating, the government would have had no problem arguing just the opposite -- that he should get a reduction because of his valuable assistance in the investigation and prosecution of others.
This woman on CNN has got to go. She just said he could have gone to trial and it wouldn't have been held against him. She is obviously a prosecutor. Everybody else knows there is indeed a "trial tax" if you to trial and lose. There shouldn't be, but there is -- often over and above the 3 points you lose for the acceptance of responsibility adjustment. Relevant conduct that comes out at trial that would not have surfaced with a quick guilty plea often results in a higher sentence. Judges can even consider acquitted conduct, or conduct in hung counts. It can also sentence based on the uncorroborated testimony of a cooperator who is singing for his supper. If you look at the outcomes in most multi-defendant fraud and drug cases, you will see many if not most of the cooperators got a short sentence while the one who went to trial got 25 years, 40 years or life.
The judge is taking a recess and will come back to announce his decision.
