“You have the most corroborating evidence I’ve seen in a battery case in a long time,” said Parker, who supervised battery cases from 2003-2011 as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County, where the incident occurred.
“It’s not often you get a crime caught on tape. Most battery cases are he-said, she-said. And the police come and the police make a determination. And prosecutors look to see if there’s any corroborating evidence. Are there any injuries? Any independent witnesses? – things like that,” Parker said. “And here we have all of that…. Again, it’s very rare, and it’s a very prosecutable case.”…
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg has yet to receive the case from the Jupiter Police Department and couldn’t comment on it, said spokesman Mike Edmondson. He said the police officer made a determination to charge based on “probable cause” that a crime occurred. But, he said, prosecutors have to decide two extra factors before bringing the case: “if the state can meet its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and if there’s a reasonable likelihood of conviction before moving forward with a charge.”
Miami-Dade criminal defense attorney Patrick J. McGeehan said that, while the evidence indicates there was a battery, the prosecutors might not push the case because it might not be a slam dunk. In reviewing the video footage, McGeehan said, there’s a possibility that prosecutors could consider how aggressively Fields pursued Trump as she tried to question him.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member