Butina's sentence delayed a third time as Liu yanks plea deal
Jessie Liu (above), U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/jessie-k-liu-takes-office-united-states-attorney
Judge Tonya Chutkan will decide at 5 p.m. today whether to delay the sentencing of Mariia Butina.
Again.
For the third time.
Source is the Judge’s order filed yesterday.
Butina was to be sentenced Friday.
Butina plead guilty to being a Russian spy last year. She was embedded in Crossfire Hurricane, a plot using illegal surveillance of American citizens to take down President Donald J. Trump.
The program is ongoing.
It is coordinated by John Bolton and his friends.
Bolton is President Trump’s National Security Adviser.
When is a deal no deal?
When it involves Jessie Liu.
Mariia Butina (BOOT-in-a) thought she was going back to Russia on Friday. She was arrested Sunday July 15th and has been in jail ever since.
Last Friday, federal prosecutors, lead by Jessie Liu, changed the deal.
Instead of time served and deportation, Liu asked for a two-year prison term for Butina, then deportation.
On Friday, Judge Chutkan can sentence Mariia V. Butina to:
five years in jail plus
three years probation plus
a fine of up to $250,000 plus
a court assessment of $100
Butina’s attorneys thought they had a plea deal for time served and immediate deportation to Russia.
Why the switch-a-roo?
Or was it a double-cross?
Butina’s defense attorneys have no experience in criminal law trials.
Fortunately for Butina, incompetent counsel is a reason to nix the new plea deal, according to Judge Chutkan.
Butina’s father said in July that the family was unable to pay Mariia’s legal retainer of $436,000.
http://tass.com/world/1038115
"The debt amounts to about 30 mln rubles at the moment.
“It is indeed a huge debt.
“The case is politicized, this is why the fees are that high.
“But the lawyer did not abandon the case in July and has been actually working for free since then," said Valery Butina, Mariia’s father.
Who then is paying for her defense?
Mariia’s father is pictured to the right in the photo below:
