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Stone Sentencing Controversy Raises Doubts About DOJ's
IndependenceFromPolitical Influence

Masood Farivar

   For decades, the U.S Justice Department has aspired to serve as a model
   law enforcement agency that largely operates independent of political
   influence.Federal prosecution decisions and sentencing recommendations
   have been made by career lawyers operating under strict rules of
   conduct, a rarity in countries with a weak rule of law.

   Now that image is being severely tested in the wake of the Justice
   Department's controversial decision Tuesday to reverse its own
   prosecutors' recommendation that Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of
   U.S. President Donald Trump, receive seven to nine years in prison for
   crimes unearthed during the Mueller investigation into Russian election
   meddling.A jury convictedStoneinNovember of lying to Congress,
   obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

   The extraordinary move led all four federal prosecutors assigned to the
   Stonecaseto withdraw fromit,including one who resigned in protest,
   raising questions over whether Trump exerted undue influence over his
   attorney general, William Barr, to intervene in the case.

   Barr to testify

   Amid calls for an investigation into Barr's decision, House Judiciary
   Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler announced Wednesday that the attorney
   general wouldtestify before his panel on March 31 "to address numerous
   concerns regarding his leadership of the Department of Justice and
   thepresident's improper influence over thedepartment and our criminal
   justice system."

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