NEW YORK LAW UPDATE:
Two quirky things about NY State trial procedure. One, in criminal cases the defense goes first and the People second in closing argument. So the defense never gets a chance to rebut any of the People's arguments. That is plain wrong.
Second, in a Miami circa 1970's -80's move, the jury DOES NOT get the jury instructions. What kind of bullshit is that? Non lawyers are expected to apply the law, hearing it once, and not having a chance to read it? Bizarre. We used to have this fight with judges all the time when we were a young lawyer. And the old judges would look at us like we were crazy and ask "You want the JURORS to have the jury instructions?????" And we would reply "Well, yeah. They are called jury instructions for a reason. They are for the jury."
And the old judges would just shake their head like we were the dumbest person on earth and not do it. And it hurt both sides a lot. And we were astounded to learn NY State, the state of Benjamin Cardozo, does not give the jury the jury instructions. Can anyone defend that? We cannot.
UPDATE: TRUMP JURY WENT OUT AT 11:28 AM Wednesday.
Query: What's your shortest verdict and what's your longest?
For us we are sure we've had some 30 min NGs in misdemeanor cases many years ago. Longest was a fed court case with deliberations lasting about 9 days over two weeks but it was a large multi-defendant case in which the jury hung on several counts for other defendants.
We generally think on the standard 3-4 day trial the sweet spot for a NG is 30 minutes to two hours.
And of course our number one rule- AVOID FRIDAY VERDICTS
Veri= truth; Dicta= to speak.
Will the verdict this week speak the truth?
There will be closing arguments at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan this week in the first of the four criminal trials against the former president.
New York may have many issues, but they were able to bring this case to trial when no other jurisdiction could. The City that never sleeps can also bring a case to trial. Advocating in the Big Apple never looked better.
So, running a blog that has a majority of criminal law practitioners, we should have no shortage of opinions on the prosecution, defense, and the Judge.
You're back from the long weekend. You have a month of work before the summer doldrums.
Have at it.
28 comments:
Guilty as charged.
Dulcinea del Toboso said : This one minute hypothetical closing by DOM is quite clever https://x.com/domarkus/status/1794147299544772989
I predict 2 hours of deliberation and guilty on all counts.
All you need is one MAGA on the jury and I have a feeling DJT has more than one on that jury. Hung jury.
Objection! Haliburton! Lol oh New York, right…. Also found it interesting that in NY defense closes first then prosecution. Rather than prosecutor, defense, rebuttal…
Hey Rump. Your thoughts on vegan versus vegetarian versus regular American diet? Any longevity tips?
GUILTY
The spin doctors in the RNC and Fox News will just blast the conviction as a sham perpetrated by the Northeast liberal/ Jewish/black/socialists
Hung jury. At least one will be too stubbornly political to permit the not guilty, and at least one will be too terrified to return a guilty. Worst case scenario: the truth won’t be discussed in deliberations by jurors who know the courts can’t protect them from a lifetime of harassment, and so the not guilty comes back regardless of what the jurors thought the truth was.
I think like the stoics everything in moderation. A Mediterranean diet of mostly vegetables fruits legumes and clean protein like deep sea line caught fish like black cod and Dover sole.
Some sliced meat - grass fed - once a month is fine. Forget the carbs issue and focus on natural foods without processing.
Exercise 3-4 X a week. Sleep 8 hours a day. Meditate.
Relax. Enjoy life.
Hey Rump don’t forget some badumadunk from time to time. Some good clean fun as all get out romp in the sheets with a loved one or a very into it hottie. FWB - don’t knock it until you try it. FWB.
The order of summation is interesting. Dershowitz says it is unconstitutional because it gives the impression that a defendant has to prove his innocence by going first. In NY, the prosecution goes first in opening, has to put on evidence, and then goes last in closing. The defendant never gets a chance to DEFEND against what the prosecutor says to the jury. Interesting point. At bit attenuated but when you think about it, kind of makes sense
11:30.
Jury is out. Judge Marchan took one hour to read some of the most complicated jury instructions concerning 34 separate counts of a documents crime and amazingly the jury cannot take a copy of the instructions back with them to the jury room. NY needs to move into the 21st century.
Acquittal on all 34 counts.
There are no lesser includes because the misdemeanors (falsifying records) are long past SOL.
Even finding PBRD on the element of falsifying records is not enough. The jury must then find PBRD that these actions were taken in furtherance of a felony.
While the State of NY, per the court, is not responsible to name or prove this "felony", I think it will bite the DA in the ass. They should have accepted the burden to name and prove the felony. In their argument, the felony is improperly influencing the election. Name it and own it and prove it. Make the jury's life easy.
Their case is that Trump falsified records 34 times in a conspiracy to *improperly* *influence* an election. Those words are important.
Trump's defense has been that he was not party to falsifying anything, and furthermore his intentions with arranging NDAs was to protect him and family from embarrassment.
It's a strong defense. 1. Falsifying does not mean merely improperly filing or accounting for some expenditure. It means having the intention to deceive. There is smoking gun there re mens rea. Its entirely reasonable that Trump filing the NDA expenses as campaign expenses was without any criminal intent.
2. NDA related expenses are very reasonably related to a desire to protect from personal embarrassment. That's why politicians and celebs and businesspeople sign them every single fucking day. Could this have electoral consequences? Of course! But its legal to influence an election. Thats literally what a campaign is. But can the state *prove* the intention was B (something improper), and not A (personal or proper)? Beyond a reasonable doubt?
Hard to imagine.
The right verdict here is NG, across the board.
The Big easy E Elortegui was available, retired in Maine, ready and able to try this case and would have walked him in an hour. But cheapo Trump was not willing to pay his 10M ask- and now he's staring down a much more uncertain verdict.
Hey Rumpy. Thank you for all you do. I’ve read every single post that has been on the Blog.
I know it takes a great deal of time for you. It must detract from your time with your family and friends.
Please be aware that all of us out here in the world appreciate you very much.
You obviously are a very accomplished trial lawyer - or maybe an esteemed Judge. You are an excellent writer. It would be great for you to be creating TV legal thrillers or movies. You have it Rumpole. You do.
God bless you. God bless our freedoms to express ourselves on a public forum. And God bless our American legal system.
Please. Everyone knows the fix is in. The orange dumb ass is gonna walk.
How do the two lawyers on the jury handle what are clearly improper jury instructions? Just go along with the ruse?
How about not having jury instructions before closing argument. So much due process up in the Big Apple. Not only do you get your hands tied behind your back, but you get your mouth taped as well. You left wingers must be so proud.
And while you are at it, the lawyers did not have the jury instructions before their closing arguments. But, I guess that you progressives are O.K. with that. But, no matter what you do, it is probably not enough to get your senile old thief re-elected president. (By the way, if his junkie son is convicted, I guess that means that Joe will have to step down to allow the VP to pardon him, but I doubt that Biden will not arrange a pardon.)
Guilty on 10 counts so far!
Guilty on 20 counts so far!
GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS!
Guilty!!!!
Well, that happened. On to the presidential pardon for himself.
Since these are New York state criminal charges, Trump would not be able to pardon himself, even if he were reelected as president. He would just have to use the secret service and the army to threaten New York from ever extraditing him.
The law will not be changed to remove Secret Service protection from convict # 78248767 J. 89283728, because even if Americans don't care about his worthless butt, he may still have uses to our enemies. With minimal resources (cameras?) they should keep a strict perimeter outside and make sure he remains in the secure facility.
Dear Thursday, May 30, 2024 1:00:00 PM;
I think you are being a tad hypocritical. Supposedly, the right-wing is all about "States Rights." Isn't New York a State? Sure, their procedure is odd, but, isn't it their right to have their rules? Or, is the cry about "States Rights," just a lie like all the other Republican bullshit?
Kid.
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