re: #330 Sir John Barron

Glad you’ve been following this trial closely so the rest of us don’t have to.

Seems like the trial is focused more around his tax chicanery than with anything more illicit, such as his lobbying activities, although perhaps that is due to the specifics of the charges. It is that a fair read of this?

This trial is for not paying taxes on $15 million dollars and bank fraud for falsely modifying documents to obtain loans.

Someone asked about jury instructions. This is from WaPo:

After more than an hour of jury instructions, Judge T.S. Ellis III sent the case to the jury, telling them they would begin deliberations Thursday morning.

In the final instructions to the jury, the judge reminded the panel that their decision must be unanimous and “your sole interest is to seek the truth in the case.”The judge’s instructions included several key points:

• Ellis told the jury that they were to ignore any Department of Justice “motive or lack thereof” when making its decision.

• Ellis reminded the jury they should not construe comments or questions he made from the bench as opinions to be considered in their deliberations.