Posted on 10/21/2019 11:01:17 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
Federal prosecutors cannot play a clip from “The Godfather, Part II” in court during the trial of political consultant Roger Stone, a judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is overseeing the case against the consultant, agreed with his attorneys that the clip could unfairly prejudice jurors.
“The government will not be permitted to introduce the clip itself in its case in chief because the prejudicial effect of the videotape, which includes a number of extraneous matters, outweighs its probative value,” Jackson, an Obama appointee, ruled Monday.
However, she said prosecutors are free to use a transcript of the scene.
The indictment against Stone charges that he pressured an associate to “do a Frank Pentangeli” in his testimony. Pentangeli, played in the 1974 film by Michael V. Gazzo, is a lieutenant in the Corleone mafia family who recants incriminating Senate testimony after the family arranges for his brother to sit in the audience for the hearing.
Stone, a longtime informal adviser to President Trump, is charged with seven felonies, including witness tampering and lying to Congress. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
Stone's trial is set to begin Nov. 5 in Washington, D.C.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Poor Roger Stone, the prosecutors must really be desperate to prove they are right for persecuting...er...I mean prosecuting him if they want to introduce a work of fiction into his trial
Have they no shame? Seems like some bar association would refer this to an ethics committee.
Berman is a notorious Rat hack she knows allowing this would have made an appeal a slam dunk.
Imagine what would happen if he was just some poor schmo with a public defender.
A friend of mine makes the point that the movie isn't all THAT bad, and if it had been called something other than Godfather 3, and the characters had all had different names, it would be looked at in a much more favorable light as a solid mob melodrama.
It was embarrassing, watching Pacino in that role. And I can only imagine how humiliating it was for Andy Garcia to play opposite Coppola’s untalented daughter.
That story line makes the movie.
Stone will have a slam dunk reversal at the Circuit Court if the judge allows the reading a script from a movie.
Part 3 would have been wonderful if Pacino's ego hadn't contributed to his overacting in 3. He received such acclaim for Parts 1 and 2 in the 16-year interval between 2 and 3 and became so rich and famous, that he forgot how tightly-controlled Michael's original character had been.
The story line of 3 was very prescient, seeming to see the future about the Vatican banking scandal and the suspicious death of a pope. And the scenery and music were beautiful.
I think the long break between 2 and 3 contributed to the perception that it was not as good, because without a deep refresher course in the first two, the third was harder to understand.
Interesting thoughts about 1&2 vs 3! See post 28:
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3787908/posts?page=28#28
Da Gunna kill da Pope!
“do a Frank Pentangeli”
It’s in quotes. Did Stone use the phrase or did the prosecutor do a Schiffty paraphrase?
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