Legal Experts: The Trump Trial Jury Instructions Are Not Normal

Townhall ^ | 05/29/2024 | Katie Pavlich

[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

The notion that Merchan's jury instructions could somehow fail to specifically instruct jurors about the second substantive "in furtherance of" crime—and its underlying statute, including the requisite mens rea/intent, etc.—is absolutely batshit insane.— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) May 28, 2024

This is wrong-jury must be unanimous on every element (it can’t be 4 believe one predicate and 8 believe another); judge is wrong


pic.twitter.com/E74nbBEmKR— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) May 25, 2024

Otherwise the instructions have been "standard."

[Jonny7797]

Does “not normal” also mean illegal?

[JoSixChip]

We don’t even have to agree what the crime is, we just have to find him guilty of something, anything! Because TRUMP!

[OakOak]

Is it normal for the Judge’s daughter to raise $100 Million off Daddy’s trial?

.

[FlingWingFlyer]

So basically, the Penis in a Black Robe told the doofuses that they could find Trump guilty if they don’t like him. America sucks with all these refugees azhos running around running our so called government.

[ProudDeplorable]

This is how the Democrats operate with elections also - The law doesn’t apply equally. This is why Democrats love when more laws are passed. They always get to pick and choose how they are executed.

[faithhopecharity]

“Lavrentiy Beria, the most ruthless and longest-serving secret police chief in Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia and Eastern Europe, bragged that he could prove criminal conduct on anyone, even the innocent. “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” was Beria’s infamous boast. He served as deputy premier from 1941 until Stalin’s death in 1953, supervising the expansion of the gulags and other secret detention facilities for political prisoners. He became part of a post-Stalin, short-lived ruling troika until he was executed for treason after Nikita Khrushchev’s coup d’etat in 1953. Beria targeted “the man” first, then proceeded to find or fabricate a crime. Beria’s modus operandi was to presume the man guilty, and fill in the blanks later. By contrast, under the United States Constitution, there’s a presumption of innocence that emanates from the 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments, as set forth in Coffin vs. U.S. (1895)...”...(added note: except under the Biden regime)

oxfordeagle site extract

[Regulator]

Welcome to Mexico, Kiddies

The Spanish Catholic Inquisitioner says “off with his head!”

This is why we fought a Revolution....to get rid of trash like “Merchan”

[LastDayz]

Kangaroo court on full display with clowns and cymbal monkeys.

[Reno89519]

Just heard that the jury instructions are 55 pages long!!!

No wonder the judge didn’t give them to the jury.

[equaviator]

Will it soon be a “new normal” or is it already?

[John S Mosby]

It means.. mentally ill. A “judge” who is a TOOL of the Gangs of New York the New Tammany Hall/Cartel owned tools.

They cannot own us. They will not.

[The_Media_never_lie]

So, the jury can send Trump to jail because the jurors agree he must be guilty of something? This is a new standard of justice, right?

[cuz1961]

a new standard of justice is back to the old world standard

guilty till proven innocent

[TigerClaws]

Jury also not allowed to bring the instructions with them to deliberate.

Highly unusual according to this guy:

https://x.com/AGAndrewBailey/status/1795840914486948097

[Georgia Girl 2]

Nothing about this trial is normal. 🙄

[BigEdLB]

Can his attorneys make an appeal right now based on instructions? If they violate 4th amendment, this could be stopped right now.

[Hyman Roth]

File this under No Shit

[sarge83]

He has to give them some instructions written down. I have sat on nearly 15 trials and you usually get a one page document with the possible guilty on X,Y,Z charges. In KY on the felony cases we had to be unanimous and that meant 12-0, not this 4-4-4 idiocy.

They will elect a foreman and then probably read the possible guilty options, kick it around and get a feel for the opinions in the room and possibly take a vote thereafter if everyone seems in agreement which is rare and proceed accordingly. I sat on one trial where the quick vote was all we needed and it was a civil trial where you don’t need a unanimous verdict and it was 12-1.

This is the biggest joke of a criminal trial I have ever witnessed. I live in the middle of the mountains and trial are taken seriously here. With this kangaroo court in NY I have never seen a judge or courtroom so bereft of due process and basic courtroom decorum and behavior.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

no chyt cherlock !
LEX