Merchan to Jury: Choose Your Own Adventure

11:20 AM · May 29, 2024

Excerpt Jonathan Turley twitter.com

...Merchan just delivered the coup de grace instruction. He said that there is no need to agree on what occurred. They can disagree on what the crime was among the three choices. Thus, this means that they could split 4-4-4 and he will still treat them as unanimous...
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 29, 2024

...Merchan just noted that, if the money would have been paid regardless of the campaign, it is not a contribution.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) May 29, 2024

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Author Commentary

Ed Morrissey May 29, 2024 11:20 AM ET

This is outrageous, but explicable on unanimity. The jury still has to unanimously convict Trump, but do not have to be unanimous on which crime Trump allegedly covered up with false ledger entries. The prosecution only discussed that in closing arguments and offered three theories -- one of which was a violation of federal campaign-finance law, which is outside the jurisdiction of the Manhattan DA and state courts. As long as jurors are convinced he tried to cover up one or more of the crimes, they don't have to be unanimous on which one it was.

Needless to say, this is absurdly unconstitutional. Defendants are entitled to know the clear charges against them, and prosecutors are required to prove each element of the case. In this trial, the only reason these are felonies is because Bragg insists that Trump violated other laws, but never even presented a case on any of the three theories.