The Paul Manafort trial on charges of filing false tax returns, four counts of failing to disclose his offshore bank accounts, and nine counts of bank fraud is now into its second day of jury deliberations. The jury has requested more advice on what amounts to reasonable doubt suggesting they are divided about whether the prosecution has met the burden of proof.
The U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III has come under criticism for ‘unusual’ behaviour, intervening regularly, and mainly against the prosecution in the presence of the jury and on matters of substance, not courtroom conduct. The WPost says: ‘He disparaged the prosecution’s evidence, misstated its legal theories, even implied that prosecutors had disobeyed his orders when they had not.’
If Manafort is found not guilty there is no recourse to appeal, even if the judge is held to have violated impartiality and fairness since double jeopardy applies.
There’s nothing overly informative on Manafort’s chart 1 April 1949 (without a birthtime) apart from a discouraging tr Saturn square his Venus, Mars, Sun in Aries through late autumn when he faces a second trial. Though on second thoughts his Solar Arc Mars is catching the tr Neptune square now which is usually downbeat. Plus tr Pluto is opposition his Neptune/Node which can be devastation and confusion, plus tr Neptune is square his Mercury/Saturn also now which is depressed. So not exactly delirious with relief. If found guilty he faces a long prison sentence (if not pardoned).
The judge TS Ellis 111 15 May 1940 is a stalwart and stubborn Sun Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune; with his Sun exactly conjunct Trump’s midheaven. He certainly dislikes Mueller with their relationship chart having a hostile Mars Pluto Venus sextile Saturn Uranus; and it looks at a low ebb over the result. Though these charges are not specifically related to the Russia collusion investigation.
Ellis’s relationship chart with Trump isn’t exactly warm with a composite Sun Saturn and is under pressure at the moment. But it isn’t anyways near as bad as with Mueller.
A lawyer on Maddow last night said that the request for clarification of exactly what constitutes reasonable doubt is one of the most common questions juries have, so it does’t necessarily mean anything. Plus Manafort is up on 18 charges and there are 12 jurors, so any of the questions could have applied to 1 or more charge, and come from 1 or more jurors. He said everyone, including himself, tries to read the tea leaves from juror questions, facial expressions, etc. but you really just never know.