Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz on Friday told Newsmax TV that federal prosecutors aimed to "punish" GOP operative Roger Stone for going to trial to defend himself.
In an interview on “Greg Kelly Reports,” Dershowitz was incensed the Department of Justice’s initial recommendation was for 7-9 years for Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of United States District Court in Washington sentenced him instead to 40 months in jail. Stone was convicted last November on seven felony charges, including lying under oath to a congressional committee and threatening a witness whose testimony would have exposed those lies.
“I think a year or two would have been appropriate that's what he would have gotten if he’d pleaded guilty,” Dershowitz said. “He's being punished for exercising his right to go to trial. That’s a systemic problem in America — it’s called the trial penalty — it has to be abolished.”
“I've been writing about this for over 50 years … how unfair and unconstitutional it is to punish people for going to trial. He clearly was punished for going to trial.”
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