CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, February 24, 2020

Flynn and Stone: The Dreyfus deja vu?

Are we witnessing a modern-day Dreyfus Affair with today’s victims being retired Lt. General Michael Flynn and GOP political consultant, Roger Stone?

To remind: In 1894, French Army Major Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of providing secret information to Germany. For five years, Dreyfus suffered imprisonment on Devil’s Island. In 1899, evidence proving Dreyfus’ innocence was uncovered. In 1906, Dreyfus was pardoned. Dreyfus served heroically in World War I, and was promoted to Lt. Colonel. "The Dreyfus Affair" became the world-wide symbol of what an entrenched bureaucracy (Deep State) can do to an innocent person.

Fast forward to the case of Lt. General Michael Flynn, USA (Ret.) Apparently, General Flynn was too trusting of FBI agents whose actual target was President Trump. It now appears that Flynn’s initial counsel was inept, exculpatory evidence was withheld, and Flynn was subjected to prosecutorial abuse. Currently, new counsel is arguing for a dismissal.

In the case of Roger Stone, the biographies of the presiding judge, Amy Berman-Jackson, and jury foreperson, Tomeka Hart, make disturbing reading.

Judge Berman-Jackson has a long history of being a Democrat Party activist. In March, 2011, President Obama appointed her to be a federal judge. Ever since, Judge Berman-Jackson has a history of judicial rulings favoring Democrats and against pro-life litigants. For example, in May 2016, Judge Jackson dismissed a wrongful death suit filed versus Hillary Clinton by the parents of two U.S. citizens killed in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Judge Berman-Jackson became Special Counsel’s Robert Mueller’s "go-to" judge in the cases of former Trump associates: Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and Roger Stone. Does anyone see a bias-pattern here?

That brings us to Roger Stone. Now, we learn that, Tomeka Hart, the foreperson of the jury that convicted Stone of obstruction, false statements, and jury tampering is, as evidenced by her social media rants and other public statements, a rabid anti-Trumper.

As a lawyer, Hart was under a special duty to reveal her anti-Trump and anti-Stone bias on her voir dire (speak truth) questionnaire. Judge Berman-Jackson, in her own voir dire examination of Hart, should have ruled Hart was unfit to sit in judgment of Robert Stone, much less serve as the jury’s foreperson which she did.

Judge Berman-Jackson issued a gag order against Stone, meaning that the anti-Trump/anti-Stone media were allowed to spin the Stone story however they pleased with no response from Stone or his counsel. In the wake of Stone’s conviction, jury foreperson Hart turned to social media to praise the prosecutors and to condemn Stone and President Trump.

On social media, the African-American, Tomeka Hart, routinely refers to President Trump as #KlanPresident. Does anyone see a political-bias pattern here?

Look for Stone to get a new trial based on a jury tainted by, even "tampered by," the bias of the jury foreperson, inept initial counsel, prosecutorial abuse, and due to prejudicial statements made by Judge Berman-Jackson who mistakenly said Stone was prosecuted for "covering up" for President Trump. Because Stone was never charged with "covering up" for President Trump, that calls Judge Berman-Jackson’s judicial fitness to question. Failing a new trial, a presidential pardon may be in the offing.

©2020. William Hamilton.

William Hamilton, is a laureate of the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame, the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma University Army ROTC Wall of Fame. Dr. Hamilton’s Formula for Failure in Vietnam: The Folly of Limited Warfare was published on November 20, 2019. To order, call toll free: (800) 253-2187 Or, go to Amazon.com.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com