A Manhattan jury has found Former US President Donald Trump guilty in his New York criminal trial.
The charges arose from events in 2016, when a company set up by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ in relation to an alleged historical sexual encounter Trump had with Daniels. Trump was accused of falsifying business records to hide the payments. It was alleged Trump later reimbursed Cohen.
Trump denied the affair with Daniels and claimed he was not aware of Cohen’s payment to Daniels.
Federal prosecutors had closed their investigation into Trump in 2019.
The statute of limitations falsifying business records in the second degree, which is a misdemeanour, expired.
However, last year, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, used a rare strategy to bring felony charges rather than misdemeanours against Trump. Bragg brought an indictment charging Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, in violation of New York Penal Law §175.10, an upgrade that meant the statute of limitations did not prevent the charges from proceeding.
The charge was that Trump falsified the documents to hide another crime. Remarkably, prosecutors were not required to prove a secondary crime took place or even to particularise exactly what it is.
Supporters of the charges and even the District Attorney claimed these charges were proper because of equality before the law, and their slogan was that no-one is above the law, despite soaring crime rates in New York as a result of systemic failures to enforce the law.
These charges are one of many cases brought against Trump since he left office, an unprecedented and extraordinary development which has apparently only boosted Trump’s political fortunes. He easily trounced his opponents in the Republican primaries and secured the presumptive nomination very quickly.
More recently, Trump found surprising support in the deeply Democratic New York neighbourhood of Harlem when he recently visited it.
However, these convictions may end up hurting him, with many republican and independent US voters having previously indicated they may not vote for him in the event he is found guilty.
An acquittal would have meant that Trump would have claimed vindication of his claims of political persecution. Trump is now a convicted felon and is due to be sentenced.
It is likely that Trump will appeal, but it seems any appeal will be heard and determined after the 2024 Presidential Election.
Author adminPosted on Categories Criminal law