By Khorri Atkinson and Mike LaSusa

Law360 (June 26, 2020, 4:49 PM EDT) -- Roger Stone will have an extra two weeks to report to prison, a D.C. federal judge ruled Friday, pointing to health concerns voiced by the longtime ally of President Donald Trump while denying Stone's request to extend his surrender date even further to September.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in a one-page order that Stone can report to prison on July 14, though he'll have to remain in home confinement until then.

"This will address the defendant's stated medical concerns during the current increase of reported cases in Florida, and Broward County in particular, and it will respect and protect the health of other inmates who share defendant's anxiety over the potential introduction and spread of the virus at this now-unaffected facility," the judge said.

Judge Jackson also issued a longer order with a fuller explanation of her reasoning. That order was sealed, but she said she thinks it could be unsealed "in its entirety" because it doesn't contain any private medical information. She gave Stone and federal prosecutors until Monday to weigh in on whether or not to unseal the memo in part or in full.

Stone, 67, a longtime Republican operative and former Trump 2016 campaign adviser, had been ordered to surrender on June 30. The self-described political "dirty trickster" was sentenced to 40 months in prison for obstructing probes into Russian election interference, witness tampering and lying to Congress. He lodged the unopposed prison delay bid on the basis of concerns of "his heightened risk of serious medical consequences from exposure" to the coronavirus in prison and his age.

Prosecutors in the case told Judge Jackson late Thursday that their decision not to oppose Stone's request for an extension of his surrender date has nothing to do with politics and is squarely in line with a department policy enacted in response to the pandemic.

Federal attorneys explained in an eight-page brief that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which prosecuted Stone's case, is simply adhering to a guidance Attorney General William Barr issued in March to the Bureau of Prisons. That policy explicitly instructed U.S. attorney's offices across the country "to not oppose a defendant's request to extend a voluntary surrender date for up to 60 days, unless the defendant poses an immediate public safety or flight risk."

"For that reason — and that reason only — the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia does not oppose defendant Roger J. Stone's request," the brief said, adding, "The directive applies to defendants whether they pled guilty or were found guilty after a trial, and without respect to age, health, or other COVID-19 risk factors."

Prosecutors' filing came at the request of Judge Jackson, who appeared reluctant to accept it on its face. She asked prosecutors to explain in writing why they do not oppose the bid, indicate how the government responded to similar requests by defendants in other cases in the wake of COVID-19, and update the court on the results of COVID-19 tests at the medium-security federal correctional facility in Jesup, Georgia, where Stone was assigned to serve his sentence.

Judge Jackson's skepticism came as a federal prosecutor, who helped secure Stone's guilty verdict at trial in November, testified before Congress Wednesday that officials "from the highest levels" of the U.S. Department of Justice intervened and gave "favorable treatment" to Stone ahead of sentencing because of his ties to Trump.

Aaron Zelinsky, an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland, was one of the four line prosecutors who abruptly quit the case in February after Barr reversed course on trying to put Stone away for seven to nine years.

Zelinsky testified that it was only after Trump weighed in and called the original recommendation "horrible and very unfair situation" that top officials sought a more lenient sentence. The attorney spoke during a probe by House Democrats amid claims of political interference at the DOJ and flagrant abuse of power by Barr.

During the Feb. 20 sentencing hearing, Judge Jackson largely agreed with the prosecutors' initial sentencing memo. But she ultimately sentenced Stone to three years and four months.

In Thursday's brief to Judge Jackson, prosecutors wrote that the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. had "no role in or even knowledge" of Stone's designation to the Georgia correctional facility at the time it occurred or in the selection of a self-surrender date.

"Only today, based on our due diligence in response to the court's minute order, did we learn that BOP set the June 30 date on April 17, the day after the court denied the defendant's second motion for a new trial, and that June 30 was selected at least in part based on concerns over the defendant's health, which were communicated to BOP by his attorney," according to the brief. "At no point since that original designation has the U.S. Attorney's Office had any role in or attempted to exert any influence over whether BOP should revise the June 30 surrender date."

The government also defended its support for Stone's bid by noting Judge Jackson had rejected its request for Stone to be taken immediately into custody following the jury's verdict. The judge had said she had no reason to believe he wouldn't show up for his sentencing as he posed no immediate public safety or flight risk.

The government also reported there are currently no confirmed coronavirus cases at the prison in Georgia.

In a separate filing Friday, Stone's attorney Seth Ginsberg told Judge Jackson that the defense team asked the BOP on June 1 if the surrender date could be extended to Sept. 30 or whether Stone could serve his sentence on home confinement "to minimize the danger that he would face if infected with COVID-19." The agency did not reply to the counsel's request submitted by email as instructed, Ginsberg said.

Ten days later, prosecutors informed the defense team that they had been in contact with the BOP and were told the agency was no longer extending surrender dates based on the pandemic, Ginsberg said. That determination led to discussions between the parties that resulted in Stone's request this week to the district court, the attorney added. 

The government and counsel for Stone didn't respond late Friday to requests for comment on Judge Berman's order regarding the surrender date.

The government is represented by John Crabb Jr. and J.P. Cooney of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

Stone is represented by Seth Ginsberg of the Law Office of Seth Ginsberg and Grant Smith of StrategySmith PA.

The case is U.S. v. Stone, case number 1:19-cr-00018, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

--Editing by Bruce Goldman and Emily Kokoll.

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