jerrymahoney

Published 10:11 AM EDT, Sun April 14, 2024 Trump’s lawyers said they plan to call at least two witnesses in their case: Bradley Smith, a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, and Alan Garten, the top legal officer of the Trump Organization. Merchan has limited the scope of Smith’s testimony to describing the role and function of the FEC and defining certain terms, such as campaign contributions, but has blocked him from testifying about whether the law was violated in this case. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/14/politics/prosecutors-trump-trial-new-york/index.html

From the linked Salon article above: The reasoning is not mentioned in Shugerman’s Times essay yet it is a necessary element of proving selective prosecution in New York. Merchan also found that prosecutors had demonstrated that they had brought many other actions charging defendants with “falsifying business records with the intent to commit or conceal the commission of another crime.” ******************* The data, provided by the Office of Court Administration, shows 9,794 cases involving state penal law 175.10, or falsifying business records in the first degree, have been arraigned in both local and superior New York state courts since 2015. In that time period, the five District Attorney’s Offices comprising New York City have charged 2,251 dockets to date involving Public Law 175.10. .... the Manhattan DA’s Office has used it 389 times since 2015. https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2023/04/06/new-york-state-has-issued-nearly-9800-felony-charges-of-falsifying-business-records-since-2015/ ********************** Though the crime of falsifying business records is nominally a misdemeanor, the Manhattan district attorney’s office almost always charges it as a felony. Still, the Trump case stands apart. The Times could identify only two other felony cases in Manhattan over the past decade in which defendants were indicted on charges of falsifying business records but no other crime. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/magazine/alvin-bragg-donald-trump-trial.html

Noted. Maybe Shugerman will respond.

This case is still an embarrassment, in terms of prosecutorial ethics and apparent selectivity. Nevertheless, each side should have its day in court. If convicted, Mr. Trump can fight many other days — and perhaps win — in appellate courts. But if Monday’s opening is a preview of exaggerated allegations, imprecise legal theories and persistently unaddressed problems, the prosecutors might not win a conviction at all. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/opinion/bragg-trump-trial.html (The JD, PhD writer of the above opinion was involved as Amici Curiae in the emoluments case against Trump with Washington DC and Maryland suing Trump primarily over his ownership of the Trump International Hotel, DC, across the street from the White House while Trump was still President)

Yes -- and maybe this will be helpful explaining it to the jury.

I believe they say in Australia: Play the ball, not the man

OK. But I still prefer Biden to Trump. I remember in 2008 when I thought Biden had a good chance for the nomination. I was registered as Florida independent. But some politico friends of mine in Gainesville said: No. Register as Democrat and vote for this guy Obama in the primary. I mean, WHO?

Fine. As an American, I prefer to get my entertainment elsewhere.

I wish. I voted against Trump twice and, since my mother is now deceased, too difficult to register to vote against him again. As I'm in my 70's, I expect most of the world's major calamities will happen after I am gone. I just don't want to spend the next 4 years of my life with DJT as 45. I have lived in and, after moving to Thailand, visited Florida counties that went 80% for Trump in 2020. I think people like these especially in the swing states will not be happy that Trump is being humiliated with all this talk about Stormy proving an affair by describing his penis. Wisconsin had roughly 3.2 million voters in 2020 Presidential election and the race in that state was decided by about 20,000 votes. So such things can make a difference.

Thanks. I am concerened.

To me the possibly more scary part of Trump again elected as President are these folks who see him as an empty vessel for changes to the Federal government they have been working on since Reagan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 Project 2025 (officially the Presidential Transition Project) is a collection of policy proposals to reshape the executive branch of the U.S. federal government at an unprecedented scale in the event of a Republican victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

I have a similar problem with a 15 year old Toshiba that still works fine. I tie a bungee cord around the handle and the use the hook end tightly on the backside.

To maybe clarify a bit, what was rejected was a motion with the original trial Judge Lewis Kaplan for a new trial for the defamation-only case. Team Trump has yet to file an appeal brief with the NY State Appellate Court on this matter after posting the $90 million Chubb bond The appeal on the sexual assault/defamation case verdict with the $5 million bond paid by Trump in cash is well underway with the NY State Appellate Court. Trump submitted a brief in NOV 2023. Team Carroll filed a reply last month APR. Trump (rebuttal) brief is due next month MAY.

As has been noted before, Melania Trump has been listed by Judge Merchan as a potential witness. Potential witnesses are not allowed in Court prior to their testimony.

So you say nothing about what he wrote, just who he is. Here is another opinion that touches on the same concerns: Some said prosecutors’ decision to characterize the New York case as election interference seemed to be a strategy designed to raise its visibility. “When (Manhattan District Attorney) Alvin Bragg calls it an election interference case, that’s more of a public relations strategy,” said Paul Butler, a professor at Georgetown Law and former federal prosecutor. “I think there was concern that people were looking at the other prosecutions and they weren’t discussing the Manhattan case.” Declaring the case a hush money trial made it seem less important than the others and “so they’ve styled it ... as a case about election interference. But again, what he’s charged with is falsifying business records.” https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-election-interference-2024-04c50e579ed92754f845c8bfde886fee Proessor Butler's credentials: Professor Butler served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, where his specialty was public corruption. His prosecutions included a United States Senator, three FBI agents, and several other law enforcement officials. His area of expertisse involves criminal law and procedure. https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/paul-butler/

As far as I am concerned all these cases civil or criminal are just side shows compared to the prospect that Trump is again elected President NOV 2024 And pardon my their/there and plea/verdict grammar errors above

Maybe so. Even MS. Habba says she is not expecting anything but a guilty plea. But their are multiple non-right wing nutters that think their are problems with the charges in the case especially if there is an appeal.

The NY Times has reporters who practically live at the 2 downtown federal and state courthouses. This was their 21 April headline: Will a Mountain of Evidence Be Enough to Convict Trump? Monday will see opening statements in the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump. The state’s case seems strong, but a conviction is far from assured.

Well OK but when I post legal commentary from decidedly left wing former prosecutors who have reservations about the case they are still often considered by the usual suspects on here to be nutters.

ALL legal analysis is opinion. The gent is listed as an OPINION CONTRIBUTOR on TheHill.com Republicans rated The Hill as Lean Left on average, while Democrats and Independents rated The Hill on the left side of Center. https://www.allsides.com/news-source/hill-media-bias

By Richard L. Hasen April 14, 2024 3 AM PT Although the New York case gets packaged as election interference, failing to report a campaign payment is a small potatoes campaign-finance crime. Willfully not reporting expenses to cover up an affair isn’t “interfering” with an election along the lines of trying to get a secretary of state to falsify vote totals, or trying to get a state legislature to falsely declare there was fraud in the state and submit alternative slates of electors. We can draw a fairly bright line between attempting to change vote totals to flip a presidential election and failing to disclose embarrassing information on a government form. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-04-14/donald-trump-new-york-alvin-bragg-stormy-daniels Professor Richard L. Hasen (JD, PhD) is an internationally recognized expert in election law, writing as well in the areas of legislation and statutory interpretation, remedies, and torts. He is co-author of leading casebooks in election law and remedies. https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/richard-l-hasen

I tend to avoid comments from people who decide whether they like or don't like a legal analysis based on something other than what was written.

As to comments above whether Melania Trump should be a supporting presence in court: 6.03. Exclusion of Witnesses (1) Subject to subdivision two, a court may exclude a witness from a courtroom prior to the time the witness is anticipated to testify in that proceeding. https://nycourts.gov/JUDGES/evidence/6-WITNESSES/6.03_EXCLUSION OF WITNESSES.pdf

I searched.

That's OK. I've posted comments from left-leaning former federal prosecutors who are critical of the case and people don't like those either.