Ex-Trump aide Manafort cannot be prosecuted in NY following pardon
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[February 09, 2021]
By Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state's
highest court has rejected the Manhattan district attorney's effort to
prosecute Paul Manafort, the onetime campaign chairman for former U.S.
President Donald Trump.
The decision by the Court of Appeals ends Manhattan District Attorney
Cyrus Vance's attempt to pursue Manafort on 16 felony charges, including
mortgage fraud, that were similar to crimes for which Manafort had been
convicted in federal court and pardoned by Trump.
Vance had been appealing a 4-0 ruling in October by an
intermediate-level state appeals court that prosecuting Manafort
violated state double jeopardy laws, or trying someone twice for the
same conduct.
A spokesman for Vance on Monday declined to comment on the Court of
Appeals' Feb. 4 order, which let stand the indictment's dismissal.
Manafort's lawyer Todd Blanche said he was pleased.
"This is a case that should never have been brought because the
dismissed indictment is a clear violation of New York law," he said.
Manafort worked on Trump's White House campaign for five months in 2016.
Vance announced Manafort's indictment in March 2019, less than an hour
after a judge sentenced Manafort to 7-1/2 years in prison on federal tax
evasion and bank fraud charges.
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Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, exits the courtroom
after his arraignment in New York Supreme Court in New York, U.S.,
June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The federal case stemmed from former U.S. Special Counsel Robert
Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S.
presidential election.
Trump pardoned Manafort on Dec. 23, seven months after he was
released to home confinement.
Manafort's lawyers had said he faced health risks, including from
possibly contracting the coronavirus, in prison.
U.S. presidents cannot pardon people for state crimes.
Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser pardoned after being charged by
federal prosecutors with defrauding donors in a border wall project,
is being investigated by Vance over his role in that project, The
New York Times reported this month.
Bannon had pleaded not guilty in the federal case, but double
jeopardy may not apply because he was never tried.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Stempel in New York;
Editing by Peter Cooney and Bill Berkrot)
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