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Facebook Post Sparks Debate Over Possible Mistrial in Trump Case
American Greatness ^ | June 9, 2024 | Roger Kimball

Posted on 06/09/2024 1:43:29 PM PDT by george76

The house always wins. That’s what matters—fairness, impartiality, the very idea of a non-partisan application of the law be damned. Welcome to the end of the republic.

I think that it was the great Miranda Devine, she of the “laptop from hell” fame, who first called the world’s attention to the latest wrinkle in the long-running “Get Trump” extravaganza in New York. Anyway, I first heard about it from her post on X Friday. “If this is legit,” she wrote, commenting on a letter purportedly from Acting Justice Juan Merchan to Donald Trump’s Counsel and the Manhattan DA’s office, “it should wipe out Trump’s conviction.”

Eh, what?

At issue was someone who (again, purportedly) posted on the Court’s public Facebook page a message from one “Michael Anderson,” a self-described “professional shitposter,” who claimed to have inside information that Trump was about to be convicted. “My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted. Thank you folks for all your hard work!” The comment, Merchan wrote, was posted on May 29, a day before Trump’s guilty verdict rolled off the tongues of Merchan’s jury.

For a brief moment, the internet was ablaze with speculative comment, elated or anguished depending on the ideological coloration of the poster. If it turned out that a juror had disobeyed his orders and spilled the beans about the verdict to someone who then posted the bulletin on Facebook, would that constitute grounds for a mistrial? After all, “prejudice to the defendant” is one of the stipulated grounds for a mistrial. CPL § 280.10 of the statute says, in part, that “the court must declare a mistrial” “upon motion of the defendant, when there occurs during the trial an error or legal defect in the proceedings, or conduct inside or outside the courtroom, which is prejudicial to the defendant and deprives him of a fair trial.”

Is that what we have here? It’s hard to say. The original Facebook post was removed. As far as I know, the juror in question has not been identified—and that’s assuming that a juror did inform “Michael Anderson” of the verdict. Did the post result in “substantial and irreparable prejudice to the defendant’s case?”

And leaving that question to one side, who would it be who would declare the mistrial even if such prejudice were irrefragable? Why, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, Acting Justice, New York Supreme Court, that’s who. Has there ever, outside the annals of Tammany Hall, been in American history a more conflicted jurist than Merchan? He is certainly up towards the top of that rogues’ gallery.

If you’re a judge, you are forbidden from making political contributions. But Merchan, who was “randomly selected” to preside over three Trump-related cases, has made contributions to several Democrat causes and politicians, including Joe Biden. The contributions are all small. But as Andy McCarthy pointed out, you don’t make small-dollar contributions to affect an election. You do it to show that “you’re on the team.”

If you are a judge, you are supposed to take special care to avoid conflicts of interest and even the “appearance of impropriety.” But Merchan’s daughter Loren, president of the Chicago-based progressive consulting firm “Authentic Campaigns,” has raised millions for such Democratic figures as Adam Schiff, who took the lead in bringing articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. Rep. Elise Stefanik brought an ethics complaint against Merchan but that, predictably, has gone exactly nowhere.

Why do I say “predictably?” Because in Democratic redoubts such as New York and Washington, D.C., the fix is always in. They are, as a friend pointed out to me, run like casinos. In the long run, the house always wins. The whole-of-government judicial assault against Donald Trump has abrogated several of his Constitutional rights, not least those outlined in the Sixth Amendment. “In all criminal proceedings,” that brief Amendment reads, in part, “the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State . . . and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.” But Judge Merchan declined to tell Trump (or the jury) exactly what crime he was accused of and forbade his counsel from bringing several favorable witnesses to testify.

The travesty that was New York v. Trump has been subject to reams of expert analysis and microscopic dissection, as much by public-spirited anti-Trump commentators as by those on the pro-Trump side of the docket.

Judge Merchan will simply skate over this embarrassing Facebook post, just as he skated over the rights of the defendant, Donald J. Trump. The house always wins in the end. Applied to the rule of law, that means that the regime party’s interests always take precedence over the rule of law.

Rather, the “rule of law,” just as Lenin taught us, is simply whatever the party demands. For the dedicated communist (or Democrat progressive), the very idea of “impartiality” is a bourgeois construct, a MAGA (or ultra-MAGA) fiction, and therefore eminently dispensable. Juan Merchan and his alter-ego District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, have just earned themselves a footnote in the dismal annals of legal depravity. Do not, however, expect any smidgeon of remorse to trouble their consciences. Those presiding over the house accounts do not have time for such sentimentalities. Ideological conformity and the power and perquisites such conformity brings are their heart’s desires, their existential cynosures.

The house always wins. That’s what matters—fairness, impartiality, and the very idea of a non-partisan application of the law be damned.

Welcome to the end of the republic.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: devine; fakenews; fatalvin; juanmerchan; juanmmerchan; judge; judgemerchan; merchan; miranda; mirandadevine; rogerkimball; wetbackcur
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1 posted on 06/09/2024 1:43:29 PM PDT by george76
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To: george76
Merchan won't need to throw Trump in prison. Bad optics after the massive $$$ haul Trump's had with donations..

The SETUP by the deep state is a FB post, aimed at MISTRIAL THEN RETRIAL KEEPING TRUMP IN A COURTROOM FOR ANOTHER 8 WEEKS.

It's a setup by Team Merchan.

2 posted on 06/09/2024 1:49:34 PM PDT by CivilWarBrewing (Get off my back for my usage of CAPS, especially you snowflake males! MAN UP!)
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To: george76

It might spark Debate?

I think it maybe be just bait.

To get people all trusting the kangaroos and waiting.


3 posted on 06/09/2024 1:50:05 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
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To: george76

The person who posted it has already fessed up to it being a prank. He describes himself as a “professional s—tposter.”


4 posted on 06/09/2024 1:52:19 PM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Biden regime.)
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To: CivilWarBrewing

Coordinated election interference.


5 posted on 06/09/2024 1:56:32 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist! )
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To: TBP

And that wasn’t known prior to the court’s misinforming Merchan who in turn misinformed the defense, prosecution, and public?


6 posted on 06/09/2024 1:59:27 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist! )
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To: george76

You can’t ‘unpost’ something that has already been posted on the net. IF such was posted it is there somewhere. It is incumbent on the court to find and document it (and even higher courts if the current judge is unwilling to investigate further.)

AFAIC, it is mistrial of the highest order [juror member(s) misconduct] Couple this with the obviously biased judge and vindictive prosecutor and you have judicial calamity of the highest order. A mistrial with prejudice should be declared and the judge, prosecutor and juror(s) should be sanctioned.


7 posted on 06/09/2024 2:01:01 PM PDT by Gaffer
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To: All

<><>The NY Supreme Court informed Merchan of the finding,
<><>this wasn’t Merchan ‘fessing up
<><>the NYSC contacted Merchan after verification of the poster/juror connection,
<><>the NYSC had to first verify there was contact between the juror and the poster
<><>Merchan’s revelatory letter went to to NY attorney Blanche & NY Asst DA Steinglass,
<><>Merchan revealed the errant post had gone to the Unified Court System Facebook page.


If tossed, Merchan wont get another bite at the apple in time to get a conviction before the election.

Merchan sat a jury that pretended they haven’t been tainted by pre-trial publicity.


8 posted on 06/09/2024 2:03:40 PM PDT by Liz (This then is how we should pray: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name . )
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To: TBP

The person who posted it has already fessed up to it being a prank. He describes himself as a “professional s—tposter.”
****************************
Source? Not to the fact he calls himself a “professional s-t poster” but to the fact he fessed up that this post was a prank.


9 posted on 06/09/2024 2:04:44 PM PDT by sunny bonobo
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To: Liz

Do you have a source for your 3rd and 4th points?


10 posted on 06/09/2024 2:07:21 PM PDT by sunny bonobo
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To: sunny bonobo

Part and parcel of formal judicial proceedings.


11 posted on 06/09/2024 2:10:52 PM PDT by Liz (This then is how we should pray: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name . )
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To: george76

Dedicated communist (progressive Democrat)

No need to be redundant


12 posted on 06/09/2024 2:11:25 PM PDT by Bosco127 (Bosco)
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To: sunny bonobo

The poster could not prank a judge’s actions......those are real.


13 posted on 06/09/2024 2:12:54 PM PDT by Liz (This then is how we should pray: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name . )
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To: george76

No evidence of any kind its real. Only suckers believe stuff like this. Grow up.


14 posted on 06/09/2024 2:17:42 PM PDT by Az Joe (Live free or die)
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To: Liz

Somebody must have slipped me some awesome drugs. Did you change your list somehow? I don’t remember now what I was questioning, but your list now does not resemble the one I was responding to. LOL


15 posted on 06/09/2024 2:22:05 PM PDT by sunny bonobo
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To: Az Joe

No evidence of any kind its real. Only suckers believe stuff like this. Grow up.
************************************
No need for insults. It’s definitely a real post. Now the question is whether the poster is a prankster.


16 posted on 06/09/2024 2:27:12 PM PDT by sunny bonobo
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To: george76

Funny how all this was called a hoax by sh#tposter. Yet Merchan and high-level legals felt the need to inform the campaigns. Now the story has pretty much dissapeared.


17 posted on 06/09/2024 2:40:21 PM PDT by toddausauras (Trump 2024)
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To: sunny bonobo

Perhaps the more interesting question is why Merchan decided to send the letter to the parties. This is almost certainly a prankster, but it shouldn’t be too hard to do a little investigation, talk to the guy, and see if his cousin (or anyone he actually knew at all) was even on the jury.

Why did Merchan decide to make this the topic of conversation over the weekend?

The only thing we know for sure is that he’s completely corrupt, and is doing this for some nefarious reason. Figure out who benefits from this, and we’ll find out who’s directing his actions.


18 posted on 06/09/2024 2:42:03 PM PDT by absalom01 (You should do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, and you should never wish to do less.)
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To: toddausauras

Funny how all this was called a hoax by sh#tposter.
********************************
Do you have a source for that? That’s what he calls himself, but did he acknowledge this post was a hoax/ prank?


19 posted on 06/09/2024 2:46:17 PM PDT by sunny bonobo
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Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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