Legal Experts: The Trump Trial Jury Instructions Are Not Normal
Townhall ^ | 05/29/2024 | Katie PavlichPosted on 5/29/2024, 11:38:52 AM by SeekAndFind
Closing arguments in the trial of former President Donald Trump in New York City, where he is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, have concluded and Judge Juan Merchan has given the jury their instructions. The instructions were given verbally and jurors won't receive printed copies, although they can ask questions.
According to legal experts, Merchan's standards for a conviction are abnormal and do not require jurors to reach a unanimous decision on the charges. Further, jurors don't have to determine what crime was committed.
"Judge Merchan has ruled that the jury does not have to agree on what that crime is. The jury could split into three groups of four on which of the three crimes were being concealed and Merchan will still treat it as a unanimous verdict," George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, who has been inside the courtroom, writes. "The jury has been given little substantive information on these crimes, and Merchan has denied a legal expert who could have shown that there was no federal election violation. This case should have been dismissed for lack of evidence or a cognizable crime."
...So four can find a state election violation, four can find a federal election violations and four can find tax violations and it will still be treated as a unanimous verdict.— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 28, 2024
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