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As former President Donald Trump awaits the decision of a jury in Manhattan, he may very well be forgiven for feeling that his prison trial resembles a surreal “Alice in Wonderland” farce. He has to look via a “wanting glass” the place all the things is backwards.
The offender of this hallucinatory nightmare is prosecutor Alvin Bragg, who has introduced a weird case based mostly on distorted interpretations of the legislation and twisted details. It’s now as much as twelve jurors to wade via the insanity searching for the illusory fact.
Bragg’s divided case requires the jury to achieve a number of clear conclusions on points that make little sense at first. A Ouija board may assist with this.
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Prosecutors allege that Trump falsified enterprise information by reserving funds to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels as “authorized charges” and that this was performed to hide or commit one other uncharged crime not talked about within the indictment. That is the so-called ‘thriller’ or secondary crime that’s by no means totally specified by the prosecutor, even at trial.
In different phrases, jurors now must guess. We are going to come again to that in a second. However step one is to find out if the file entry was correct. If that’s the case, there will be no secondary crime and the case ought to finish with an acquittal.
This makes the information themselves the brink query to be solved.
The Trump Group’s controller testified that he alone made the choice to enter the time period “authorized charges” into the corporate’s laptop program. Why? As a result of the Daniels charges have been paid to the defendant’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, who dealt with the authorized transaction.
Nobody, together with Trump, guided the routine accounting choice. It was the one selection obtainable that made sense. His important testimony was confirmed by an accountant. If that is believed, the prosecutor’s case is successfully resolved.
Nonetheless, as an example jurors ignore such testimony and in some way agree that the information is falsified. They need to then take into account whether or not this was performed to hide the opposite secondary crime. However what precisely is that cryptic crime? Nobody is aware of for certain, least of all of the jury.
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The Sixth Modification requires prosecutors to tell every defendant “of the character and explanation for the fees” in opposition to them. The prosecutor’s willful refusal to take action on this case is a blatant violation of a sacred constitutional proper.
It wasn’t till the closing arguments—after trial testimony was accomplished and all of the proof was offered—that the prosecution lastly revealed the enigma: It was a federal election crime. However wait. He then contradicted himself by claiming this was a state crime. Which one is it? Not legally both.
It is doable not The previous stands out as the case as a result of an area prosecutor has no authority to implement a federal legislation. And that’s doable not be the latter, as a result of it was a federal election and never a state election. Constitutional legislation has no software.
To additional complicate issues, Decide Juan Merchan is permitting jurors to think about a 3rd choice that prosecutors barely talked about throughout the trial. That’s, a tax legislation crime. Confused? You have to be too. Think about what it is like in entrance of the jury.
Proof confirmed that the refunds to Cohen have been doubled in order that he may pay acceptable taxes. But prosecutors argue that it wasn’t taxable revenue, however non-taxable compensation, and that magically makes it a criminal offense. Take into consideration that for a second.
Paying taxes is now all of the sudden a criminal offense? This should be the primary case in American historical past the place somebody is prosecuted for attempting to pay taxes that the federal government now claims aren’t owed. It could be laughable if it weren’t so critical. However there’s extra.
In keeping with Bragg’s twisted story, Trump intentionally deliberate to commit fraud. Who precisely did he deceive? It wasn’t the taxpayers, as talked about above. They may not have been voters who had already forged their votes when the “authorized prices” have been booked after the elections. That’s truly inconceivable. And it is not the Federal Election Fee as a result of the FEC concluded that the funds to Daniels didn’t qualify as a marketing campaign contribution.
But each the decide and the prosecutors appeared utterly untroubled by the authorized inconsistency and obtrusive uncertainty within the prosecutor’s idiotic and pointless authorized principle.
In assist of their cover-up and fraud argument, prosecutors allege that Trump conspired with others to affect the 2016 election. Maintain on. That is not a criminal offense. That is what campaigns are designed for. They exist for that very function. It could actually solely be a criminal offense whether it is performed by ‘illegal means’. What was illegal?
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Paying Stormy Daniels for a non-disclosure settlement is just not unlawful. It’s utterly authorized and quite common. Suppressing damaging tales within the media could also be inappropriate or unethical, however additionally it is completely authorized. Nonetheless, prosecutors used each to create the phantasm of a criminal offense that doesn’t truly exist.
In a traditional case, either side would clarify to the jury throughout closing arguments how the legislation applies to the proof offered at trial. However Merchan refused to permit this. He warned attorneys prematurely as a result of they deliberate to debate the related legislation. That’s excessive on the listing of essentially the most scandalous statements ever. It goes past incompetence, it’s a prison deprivation of rights.
Nobody who has been following Merchan’s shameless antics is stunned.
As I defined in my earlier column, the decide violated Trump’s due course of rights. He instructed the jury that they didn’t must agree unanimously as to which of the three secondary crimes or illegal acts the suspect allegedly dedicated. As an alternative, they’re free to decide on no matter they need, with out consensus. 4 jurors might approve one crime, 4 extra might choose one other, and 4 extra might choose the third. How can that be?
Unanimous jury selections are a elementary constitutional precept derived from the Sixth and Seventh Amendments. This requirement extends to all essential points, together with any mandatory component of an alleged crime and/or the institution of secondary crimes.
That is an indispensable characteristic of jury trials. It’s what defines our rule of legislation and makes the American authorized system the envy of the world.
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However within the trial of Donald Trump, jurors can conform to disagree and nonetheless attain the ultimate verdict unanimously.
Solely in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ case with a Mad Hatter decide may the cherished ideas of equity be turned on their head.
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