Roger Stone drops conviction appeal, says his lawyers told him odds of victory are slim
Roger Stone. Photo from Shutterstock.com.
President Donald Trump’s former adviser Roger Stone has dropped the appeal of his conviction for obstructing the congressional probe of Russian election influence, tampering with a witness and lying to Congress.
Stone unexpectedly filed a motion to dismiss the appeal late Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, report Politico and CNN. Stone’s lawyers had faced a midnight deadline for filing a brief.
On his website, Stone said it would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to pursue an appeal in what he thought was an unfair system.
“My attorneys have convinced me that the odds of victory were slim, and the risk of being subjected to both an unfair appeal and perhaps an unfair second trial before the same judge was just too great a risk,” he wrote.
Trump had commuted Stone’s 40-month sentence last month. The White House announcement called Stone “a victim of the Russia hoax.”
Then-ABA President Judy Perry Martinez had criticized the commutation, saying Trump’s commutation power should not be used “to undermine justice or law enforcement.”
Hat tip to @ZoeTillman.
