The Trump "Hush Money" Trial starts today
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Turley's thread on jury instructions
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1795799848416952421.html?utm_campaign=topunroll
I am back in the courtroom for the instructions.
...This judge has stated that he wants to stay close to the standard instructions. The problem is that this case is anything but standard. We will be looking for some of the outstanding issues, particularly on the standard of proof for key elements like "unlawful means." ......Yesterday was chilling as the judge allowed the prosecutors to engage in what some of us view as highly improper arguments. That included effectively testifying on facts not in the record. Merchan's view of "argument" was considerably broader for the prosecution than the defense. For the prosecutors making objections, the strike zone seemed like it stretched from dugout to dugout. For the defense, it seemed the size of a postage stamp...
...Judge Merchan is now instructing the jury...
...He has ruled that the jury will not be given copies of the instructions but can ask for them to be read to them again.
...Judge Merchan is giving the standard instruction that they can reach inferences based on facts such as inferring that it rained from seeing people in raincoats. It is a rather quaint instruction after Merchan allowed the prosecutors to state as a "fact" that federal election violations occurred in this case. There is no such violation in this case, but Merchan did nothing to correct the erroneous impression. To carry forward the analogy, Steinglass was just yelling at the jury that there was a virtual hurricane on a perfectly sunny day but the judge remained entirely silent.
......Merchan is telling them that they can only consider Cohen's plea to a federal election violation was only allowed to judge his credibility and offer "context." That is mere meek after the prosecutors said repeatedly that such violations were committed as an indisputable fact and that Trump ordered them to be committed...
......Judge Merchan just said that if they find that any witness has testified with regard to any material fact, they can disregard the entirety of his or her testimony. It could be called the Michael Cohen charge. It seems clear to some of us that Cohen clearly lied about the key call that he cited for telling Trump about the completion of the Daniels deal and his ridiculous claim that he secretly taped Trump for his own benefit...
......Merchan also instructed that they may consider the interests of the
witness in the outcome of the case. One of the least convincing parts of the closing argument of the prosecution was the claim that Michael Cohen was attacking Trump and selling merchandise to feed his family. Steinglass portrayed Cohen as struggling in his luxury multimillion dollar condo while making millions. It was a far cry from pushing a food cart down Broadway to support his family......Merchan instructed that Cohen is an accomplice and, as such, there is a special concern over such testimony particularly when there are benefits for testimony. There must be corroborating evidence. In other words, you may not convict the defendant solely on the basis of the testimony of Cohen.
...Merchan has instructed that the first count of falsifying business records in the first degree must show that Trump made or causes a false entry to be made. Intent means conscious or purpose to defraud. Intent does not require an intent to defraud any particular person or entry but a general intent to defraud.
...Merchan just delivered the coup de grace instruction. He said that there is no need to agree on what occurred. They can disagree on what the crime was among the three choices. Thus, this means that they could split 4-4-4 and he will still treat them as unanimous...
...Merchan just noted that, if the money would have been paid regardless of the campaign, it is not a contribution.
...After the federal election violation, Merchan says that the second crime is falsifying other documents. This creates a redundancy with the NY election violation on the falsifying documents. It allows the government to allege the falsification of documents as a felony and then allows such falsification to be also the unlawful means for certain documents. The third is the violation of tax laws.
...So a dead misdemeanor for falsifying business records was zapped back into life by alleging that under NY election law 17-152 it was done to influence the election by the unlawful means of falsification of business records. It is so circular as to produce vertigo. So the jury finds some documents were falsified to use the unlawful means of falsifying other documents. That is only one of three possible crimes and the jury does not have to agree on which was the basis for their conviction.
...The absence of a witness on media practices is becoming more and
more significant. Such a witness could have discussed how stories are often killed or planted by campaigns in light of the press exception for common practices by the media. Instead, the prosecutor was allowed to state as a fact what the common practices of the media are in a campaign. -
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@Jolly said in The Trump "Hush Money" Trial starts today:
Merchan needs to be disbarred.
He will be reversed.
He will retire, and go down as the first judge to convict a former president.
He will become a commentator on MSNBC and funnel more money to his daughter.
He DGAF.
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
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Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@Jolly said in The Trump "Hush Money" Trial starts today:
55 pages of judge instructions for the jury.
Not all that unusual.
Instructions that they [jury] did not get a copy of, that were read to them by the judge.
If they forget, can they request the judge to return and read them again?
And again.
And again..
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@George-K said in The Trump "Hush Money" Trial starts today:
Misleading. His instructions make sense. He’s charged with falsifying business records to cover up a crime. He’s saying the jury doesn’t have to agree what the underlying crime was, as long as they believe he kniew about it and falsified records because of it. The jury does have to be unanimous that he falsified records with the motivation of covering up a crime.
(In fact, under the law, Trump doesn’t even have to be the one who committed the crime being covered up.)
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@jon-nyc said in The Trump "Hush Money" Trial starts today:
He’s charged with falsifying business records to cover up a crime.
An unspecified crime. Has that even been revealed in testimony or evidence?
Would any crime do? Murder? Robbing a bank? Jaywalking?
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@George-K said in The Trump "Hush Money" Trial starts today:
@jon-nyc said in The Trump "Hush Money" Trial starts today:
He’s charged with falsifying business records to cover up a crime.
An unspecified crime. Has that even been revealed in testimony or evidence?
Would any crime do? Murder? Robbing a bank? Jaywalking?
Doesn't matter. It's a political trial. Stefanik has even filed a complaint that the judge was hand-picked.
They don't care about the application of the law, they only care about a conviction. Even knowing that multiple grounds exist for that conviction to be overturned, from a goofy bootstrapping of state law into federal law, selective prosecution, inability to obtain a fair trial, the denial of expert witnesses for the defense, the introduction of non-bearing salacious testimony, the weird jury instructions...It all points to a political show trial.
Americans can only hope that this current season of lawfare backfires spectacularly. Nothing breeds avoidance in American politics as knowing your tactics will get you savaged at the ballot box.
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Beat me to it. The Jury requested 20 minutes thirty minutes ago. Merchan is back on the bench. Should be any minute.
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Unfrigging believable.
Me/rry/Christmas
