Stone prison term: Will courts hold Trump accountable after Congress, Mueller failures?

Truth still matters in some places. A courtroom is one of them.

In imposing a 40-month sentence on Roger Stone, Judge Amy Berman Jackson did something that the executive and legislative branches have been unwilling to do lately — defend truth.

Stone appeared before Jackson in her courtroom in Washington, D.C., on Thursday following his conviction at trial of seven counts of lying to Congress, obstructing justice and tampering with a witness. The crimes occurred in the course of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The jury found that Stone lied five times during his testimony and hindered the House in its investigation. He was further convicted of threatening physical harm to another witness, Randy Credico.

The sentencing of President Donald Trump’s longtime confidant comes after assaults on truth from the other branches of government. Trump has distorted facts from the executive branch, retweeting that “DOJ-Mueller Operatives ABUSED POWERS to 'Punish' Roger Stone.” The day after federal prosecutors filed a memorandum recommending a sentence of seven to nine years, consistent with U.S. sentencing guidelines, Trump tweeted, “This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice!”

'Truth still matters' in court

Later that day, we now know, Attorney General William Barr directed DOJ lawyers to file an amended recommendation, calling seven to nine years “excessive and unwarranted.” That prompted the career prosecutors to withdraw from the case and caused one to even resign from the department.

Give credit to Jackson for tuning out the distraction caused by Trump and the Justice Department and fashioning her own sentence without the benefit of an effective advocate for the prosecution.

Shadowed legacy: House and Mueller spectacularly failed to rein in Trump. That's going to haunt America.

Truth fares no better in the legislative branch. The sentencing comes on the heels of Trump’s acquittal at his impeachment trial, where some senators were willing to accept Trump’s defense that he was impeached for making a “perfect phone call,” despite contrary facts that were provided by a series of career diplomats. During the impeachment inquiry, some members of the House even supported the discredited theory that Ukraine was involved in 2016 election interference, a theory of disinformation advanced by Russia.

But in court, truth still matters. Lawyers get sanctioned for misstating facts. And witnesses are charged with crimes when they lie. As Judge Jackson said, “The truth still exists; the truth still matters.”

In sentencing Stone to prison, Jackson held him accountable for his lies and obstruction. A sentence of three years and four months is certainly short of the seven to nine years recommended in the initial sentencing memorandum. Reasonable minds can disagree as to what sentence is appropriate in any case. But to characterize Stone’s actions as anything less than serious criminal misconduct betrays our system of justice.

We rely on witnesses to testify truthfully and to refrain from intimidating others who are obligated to do the same in our quest for the truth. Permitting lies and obstruction to go unchecked would send us toward a path of lawlessness, where the powerful are able to exploit the rest of us at will. That structure is untenable in a democracy.

Trump and allies dodged truth

It felt as if the executive branch had let us down in its ability to hold a president accountable when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation ended without any consequences for Trump. One has to wonder whether the outcome of the investigation would have been different if Trump allies like Stone had told the truth. In his report, Mueller wrote about numerous instances in which witnesses lied or withheld information, deleted communications and used encrypted messaging applications. These efforts to obstruct his investigation led to what he called “gaps” in his conclusions.

It was a further blow to our system of checks and balances when Trump was able to remain in office following his impeachment. He was able to dodge parts of the investigation by simply refusing to comply with subpoenas.

Don't fall for it: The FBI properly, legally investigated 2016 Trump campaign. The rest is noise and spin.

Perhaps the courts will prove to be the forum that can check the president from evading oversight in the coming weeks and months, when judges decide some of the executive privilege and absolute immunity issues that Trump has asserted to avoid complying with subpoenas. The wheels of justice have moved too slowly to keep up with Trump, but perhaps they will ultimately enable the discovery of the truth.

In defending the notion that truth matters, Judge Jackson said, “Roger Stone’s insistence that it doesn’t, his belligerence, his pride in his own lies are a threat to our most fundamental institutions, to the foundations of our democracy. If it goes unpunished it will not be a victory for one party or another; everyone loses.”

Even when the executive branch and the legislative branch have fallen short, our judiciary may be the institution that saves us.

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, an NBC and MSNBC legal analyst and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow her on Twitter: @BarbMcQuade

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stone sentencing shows courts and truth could catch up with Trump