Trump Bid To Delay NY Criminal Trial Denied By Appellate Judge
I don’t blame Trump for trying to get the trial delayed, while he attempts to change the location and judge. Trump is being railroaded by a prosecution that never should have been brought.
Donald Trump is scheduled to go on trial on April 15 in the so-called “hush money” case brought by Alvin Bragg in Manhattan. There will be a local jury, and there is a judge who is pretty openly hostile to Trump.
This has led to a flurry of motions and attempts by Trump to delay the trial, all to now avail. His latest attempt was denied by an appellate court judge today:
One week before Donald J. Trump is set to face a criminal trial in Manhattan, an appeals court judge on Monday rejected his effort to pause the case and move it to a different location.
The judge, Lizbeth Gonzalez, issued the decision Monday afternoon after hearing arguments from Mr. Trump’s lawyers and lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has accused the former president of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal.
For weeks, Mr. Trump has sought to delay the trial, the first prosecution of a former U.S. president, and possibly the only one of Mr. Trump’s four criminal cases to make it to trial this year.
Mr. Trump’s attempt to move the case out of Manhattan was not the only delay strategy he deployed on Monday. In a separate proceeding, he indicated that he planned to file an unusual type of lawsuit against the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan.
Two people with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Trump’s lawyers on Monday had planned to file the action calling on the appeals court to overturn a gag order that Justice Merchan recently imposed on the former president. The order prevents Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and the judge’s own family.
Court records showed on Monday that Mr. Trump had begun the process of filing the action against Justice Merchan, though the papers were not immediately made public.
I don’t blame Trump for trying to get the trial delayed, which he attempts to change the location and judge. Trump is being railroaded by a prosecution that never should have been brought.
Andy McCarthy has a good explanation of why Trump is treating this as a political matter – he assumes he’s going to lose at trial:
For what it’s worth, and to repeat the analysis I’ve offered in the above-linked posts, I suspect that Trump is convinced that the odds are very high that he will be convicted in the Manhattan case. Accordingly, he is fighting the case as political combat; every move is about persuading the electorate, not improving his litigating position.
Bragg has taken what at most should have been a misdemeanor (that he’d never have charged against anyone but Trump, and on which the statute of limitations ran years ago) and multiplied that act into 34 felony counts (an abusive practice that Justice Department rules admonish federal prosecutors to avoid). With a jury drawn from Manhattan, and with Merchan presiding, it is difficult to imagine Trump getting acquitted on all 34 business-records-falsification charges (the chances of a hung jury are a bit better, but not much). If he is ever going to get legal relief, as in New York’s civil fraud lawsuit and its astronomical $454 million judgment despite the absence of fraud victims, it is going to come on appeal, long after the 2024 election.
For now, then, Trump’s objective is to convince the voting public that New York’s judicial system, dominated by progressive Democrats, is rigged against him, and that any conviction (or even 34 convictions) should be seen as the weaponization of law enforcement, not as his culpability for crimes.
This whole system sucks. As I said before, Get Out of New York, If You Can.
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Comments
What a banana republic
Banana republics are embarrassed for us…they only wish they could reach our level.
All conservatives should consider what they can do to damage liberal cities. A good place to start is by boycotting companies and people who do not understand live and let live.
Don’t care. The problem for the Democrats is that they have made so many accusations, that most Trump voters don’t believe ANY of the charges.
Sorta like the media. Cry wolf too much, and no one wants to hear their whining.
Harry Litman, a crazy-eyed legal commentator with TDS, covers the situation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM_BCFzWaIE
Rational people watching this unfold in NY are saying to themselves, ‘Surely, there’s at least one adult in the NY judiciary who will put an end to this idiocy, right?’ I don’t think so. Republicans should brace themselves for the worst possible outcome because thus far – at least in NY – Trump has endured the worst possible outcome in every trial he faced there, no matter where it ranked on the Banana Republic-meter.
Dark days for the Republic lay ahead if this wholly political weaponization of the criminal justice system continues apace.
A Trump win will be not well received.
I’ve never done an appeal to scotus. Can he ask for an interlocutory appeal to get marchan kicked off the case? The whole business of his daughter operating a business getting dems elected sounds like very very solid grounds to have him disqualified.
I don’t know the names of the NY appellate courts. Isn’t supreme just a low level appellate court? Anyway, I’d appeal to scotus. This is just the clearest railroading ever.
The NY Supreme Court is the trial court. Supreme Court decisions can be appealed first to the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, and then to the Court of Appeals.
The daughter’s business isn’t technically relevant, as the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics told him nearly a year ago:
“the matter currently before the judge does not involve either the judge’s relative or the relative’s business, whether directly or indirectly. They are not parties or likely witnesses in the matter, and none of the parties or counsel before the judge are clients of the business. We see nothing in the inquiry to suggest that the outcome of the case could have any effect on the judge’s relative, the relative’s business, or any of their interests. […]
“A relative’s independent political activities do not provide a reasonable basis to question the judge’s impartiality […]
“On the facts before us, we conclude the judge’s impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned based on the judge’s relative’s business and/or political activities, and the judge is not ethically required to disclose them.”
By the way, if you don’t accept the second paragraph I cited, then you must explain why Ginny Thomas’s independent political activities are different, and don’t provide a reasonable basis to question her husband’s impartiality.
Ms. Thomas neither fundraises nor profits on them.
Case closed.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/04/yet-another-baseless-attack-on-ginni-thomas/
She neither fundraises nor profits from her independent political activities?! Really?!
And if she did? Would you then expect her husband to recuse himself from anything politics-related?! Of course you wouldn’t, because that is simply not the standard. The standard is whether she profits from this case, or is related to this case in any way. That’s the standard for Thomas, and that’s the standard for Marchan.
This is a pretty fucking stupid post even for you Justice Milhouse 😂😂
Really? Tell me what is the difference between the two cases. Ginny Thomas’s political work is not a problem for her husband; so why is Merchan’s daughter’s work any different?
https://ww2.nycourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/files/2023-03/Ethics%20Reference%20Sheets-STARTER%20COLLECTION-2023-Compact.pdf
Starride, how is the PDF you linked relevant? The Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics ruled nearly a year ago that the daughter’s activity is not an issue. What in that PDF makes you think it was wrong? More to the point, what is the difference between the daughter and Ginny Thomas? Since we both agree that Mrs Thomas’s activities are not an issue, why do you claim that Marchan’s daughter’s activities are?
Yes. Of course I would. It’d be the farking equivalent of insider trading. It’d cast reasonable doubt that he was voting for monetary gain.
This is the literal complaint about Mr. Hunter Biden.
Good grief, Milhouse, are you mental?
Tregard, you are the one who is being mental and not making any sense.
First of all, where did you come up with this claim that Mrs Thomas neither fundraises nor profits from her independent political activities? It doesn’t sound at all plausible. I call BS.
More importantly, though, suppose she does, how do you figure that would cast reasonable doubt on her husband’s decisions? What monetary gain would he be voting for?
The criterion is whether the relative stands to profit from the judge’s decision. If so, then the judge must recuse. But neither Mrs Thomas nor Marchan’s daughter stands to profit from their decisions, and that is why the NY panel advised Marchan that it was not a problem.
If you have information that Marchan’s daughter stands to profit from his decision, contrary to what he told the panel, then produce that information. But you don’t have any such information, do you? Because it’s not true. She is profiting and fundraising from her independent political activities, and his decisions will not change her income by even one cent. That’s the case with the Thomases, and it’s the case with Marchan.
If it smells like a pile of shit, it’s probably enough to know there is a horse in there somewhere.
Yes, Milhouse, we know, your leftist Democrat masters are always right–especially when they’re lying straight to our faces.
Tell everyone again how I’m lying, Democrat.
You are lying, you lying worthless piece of demonic excrement. Go back to Hell, now.
How about you go first, you Democrat piece of worthless filth?
Another filthy liar heard from. Join Azathoth in Hell. You are not worth talking to.
Another reliably stupid commentary from Milhouse. Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. Biden will be the Democratic nominee. Joe Biden is not a named defendant in any lawsuit, anywhere, while Trump is the named defendant in more lawsuits than we can count, ALL brought by Democrat prosecutors and overseen by Democrat judges. Merchan and his daughter are direct contributors to Biden. and Merchan’s daughter’s entire professional enterprise is focused on the defeat of Trump. Compare that to Justice Thomas and his wife. Ginny Thomas has worked in support of conservative organizations, but certainly does not run or financially benefit from any Trump PAC. And there is no case before the Supreme Court or any court, in which Biden is a named defendant. If a case were brought in Texas naming Biden as a defendant where the Judge was a Republican donor to Trump, and whose daughter presided over a PAC dedicated to electing Trump and defeating Biden, I would certainly expect that judge to recuse himself.
Now you’re just lying. Mrs Thomas was heavily involved in the Trump campaign, and in the post-election effort to save Trump’s presidency. There is nothing wrong with that, and that is no reason for Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any decision related to Trump, because her income will not be affected by any decision he makes.
The exact same thing is true of Marchan. Neither he nor his daughter would profit in any way by any decision he makes in this trial. The daughter’s professional enterprise is not focused on Trump, it’s focused on promoting those Democrats who pay her. But even if it was focused on defeating Trump, that would be no different from Mrs Thomas’s activities in the post-2020-election period, when she was focused entirely on having Trump declared the winner, and yet her husband correctly did not recuse himself from decisions on that very effort. Correctly because his wife was not a party to any of the motions before him, and did not stand to gain anything from their outcome.
This recently produced video by Thomas Klingenstein is powerful. It’s a must-watch YouTube.
https://youtu.be/XEIk6ic-Nj8?si=7AyPhFkKCAoQRp_K
More two tiered justice from the injustice department
Are we really in a place where the general public will accept the fact that the leading candidate is forced to run the campaign from cellblock 6 on Riker’s island?
Forced by Radicals who have hijacked the law??
The Secret Service will have to be close by. I don’t believe for a moment that Trump will ever spend a day in the New York Gulag.
Regarding Alvin Bragg. Another black clown who won’t prosecute real violent criminals.
And I describe his blackness not out of racism, but only to point out the actual color of the persecutor.
It is the color of his soul, maybe his heart.. maybe both.
Answer: yes
“Justice” has always been two-tiered; it’s just that the genteel people are noticing as the scam plays out out loud, to one who could be them.
I wonder if The Screaming Ds will notice they are destroying the deference to “institutions” that gives them any position at all. It’s not like anyone listens to them on their own merits. (The Feckless Rs are as bad. They’re just not actively destroying the systems they feed off of … right now, for once.)
Democrats couldn’t care less. All that matters is that Trump is guilty and deserves to be put to death. Their only real concern is that a trial is inconvenient.
A French level revolution, complete with guillotine, will take care of those complicit.
I hope it doesn’t get to the point where sane people believe it’s time to replace insane politicians and their political class.
I think “time to replace” passed the sell by date a while ago.
The convinced people haven’t gone guillotine n storm the place, yet. The Authoritah clamping down haven’t yet realized the genie’s already loose. Nor how bypassed they already are. I can’t tell which path to a new configuration will win.
What are the chances that if convicted (almost a certainty) that he will be out on bail during the various appeals?
I would guess that he has both state and federal options given the absurdity of the charges and the prosecution.
It’s a certainty.
No it isn’t. Trump will be treated like every other criminal defendant with a remand into custody pending appeal.
Since when???
Nope. Try again.
N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 460.50: 1. Upon application of a defendant who has taken an appeal to an intermediate appellate court from a judgment or from a sentence of a criminal court, a judge designated in subdivision two may issue an order both (a) staying or suspending the execution of the judgment pending the determination of the appeal, and (b) either releasing the defendant on his own recognizance or fixing bail pursuant to the provisions of article five hundred thirty.
Not only is there a likely pathway to receiving bail pending appeal (for this non-violent crime) in NY state court, but Trump would also have a pathway via a habeas petition.
Not licensed in NY, nor do I do criminal law, but your quoted section says “may”, not “shall.” Is there any controlling law that suggests the court would lack the discretion to deny a stay and/or release?
You’re correct, the judge is not compelled to grant post-conviction bail pending appeal. But, it would be unusual for a white collar ‘criminal’ w/no priors to not be granted bail, presuming the sentence is not multi-year. Of course, this judge is clearly a partisan hack. So, Trump may have to rely on an appellate court for relief here, an option he has as well as an option to pursue a federal habeas petition, as I said. I suspect there won’t be any real appetite to actually jail him (the costs to the city would be prohibitive). But, as someone else mentioned below, they could certainly demand he stay in the state as a condition of bail…which would effectively end his campaigning.
“Unusual.” Well there’s a bright line I am sure no democrat partisan would dare cross.
Depends if he can afford the bind I suppose 😉
I think it’s worse than that. Rapists, murderers, pedophiles and illigal immigrants get let off without much bother but Trump is hounded to the ends of the world for the crime of denying Her Majesty Hillary the Presidency!?!
I would also point out that this infirmity with Trump’s case is being repeated, an even amplified, with J6 defendants. The US Attorney in the District of Columbia – a piece of work named Matthew M. Graves – has declined to prosecute almost 70% of those arrested for crimes in DC and has reduced the charges in 80% of the crimes he has prosecuted. And yet at the very same time, he is aggressively pursuing those involved in J6.
The way that Nixon was hounded for decades for the unpardonable sin of prosecuting the communist spy Alger Hiss.,
The word railroaded is doing a lot of lifting. Oh no Trump being held to account, how dare they.
He is being railroaded, there’s no question of that. There is no way that Bragg would have brought such a case against anyone else, certainly not against any Democrat. The only reason he is bringing it is to damage Trump politically.
As Andy McCarthy pointed out, “Bragg has taken what at most should have been a misdemeanor (that he’d never have charged against anyone but Trump, and on which the statute of limitations ran years ago) and multiplied that act into 34 felony counts (an abusive practice that Justice Department rules admonish federal prosecutors to avoid).”
Read the rules linked there. Now of course those rules don’t bind Bragg, since he doesn’t work for the DOJ, but don’t you think he ought to follow them or some reasonable facsimile?
“He is being railroaded, there’s no question of that.”
Sure there is because no one else is being accused with substantial evidence of this crime so your sample size is well one making your position a tad spurious.
Andy McCarthy is an idiot, we are talking about a criminal act that may well have given Trump the Presidency. This isn’t a question of doing something unsavoury its a question of criminal conduct defrauding the voters of information they were entitled to know that may have thrown the election in his favour.
“so long as such a limitation does not jeopardize successful prosecution or preclude a sentence appropriate to the nature and extent of the offenses involved” Your making a claim about the extent of the indictment but each count seems pretty well justified, its not clear to me that the counts are just added for the sake of it, they are reflective of that fact that Trump is a one man crime wave
well then why wasn’t Edwards convicted of the same thing? Not only that Edwards used campaign money for his pay off
Because the girl Edward’s was fucking was a pretty Democrat. Of course, that piece of tail had a baby for him, while his wife had cancer. But did Edward’s ever find it in his heart to marry Hunter? No. But BartE is OK with that level of philandering. It’s along the same lines as BartE’s other hero… find em, feel ‘em, fuck ‘em and forget ‘em Biden.
No one with any sense would put his dick into Stormy Whore. Except perhaps Bart E. He loves him some Stormy waffle.
Trump would never have touched that skank whore.
The charges and facts are quite different in both cases. In the high money case we have multiple fraudulent documents as well as a number of important witnesses. As I understand it the evidence is pretty strong and this is reflected in Trumps efforts to delay the trial with the exceptionally frivolous filings made. It’ll be an interesting court case
Trump’s not running for Prime Minister, so why do you give a fuck?
@AF_chief_master_sgt
Are you for real, I mean talk about talking shite. It’s like you vomit words, it’s amazing you manage too make sentences.
First of all, Andy McCarthy is an extremely experienced prosecutor, and knows exactly what he’s talking about, unlike you.
Second, the offense alleged is extremely trivial. Even if it had decided the election, so what? How does that make it any worse? But more than that, how could this offense possibly have decided the election? How could even one vote have been changed by how Trump accounted for the money he paid Cohen? As I understand it he didn’t even do that accounting until after the election! So supposing he did put it in the wrong category, BFD. No harm, no foul. Write him a ticket and move on.
What information exactly do you claim the voters were entitled to and were unlawfully denied? If you’re talking about his affair with Daniels (supposing it ever actually happened), how were the voters entitled to that information? And what law was broken in hiding it from them? Paying hush money is not a crime, and he isn’t being charged with it. The charge is entirely about how he accounted for that payment, which certainly had nothing to do with the voters.
Also, when you say the sample size is one, you’re again being an idiot. The sample size is all the thousands of criminals whom Bragg has deliberately let off the hook, because he is opposed in principle to punishing criminals, and only does so when he has absolutely no choice. Or if they’re connected to Trump. How is that not railroading?
How about you go first, you Democrat piece of worthless filth?
Ah yes the words of a triggered snowflake
I actually had a nightmare last night. Trump was convicted. Biden refused to debate a “convicted felon”. The MSM repeated “convicted felon” a thousand times a day and liberal women re-elected Biden handily. Hopefully, this will not be prophetic but, combined with Democrats “skill” at ballot harvesting, think that current polls are meaningless and that the walking “stiff” has the edge.
Unless Trump can get this case delayed or dismissed – which is looking increasingly unlikely ATM – I think (most of) your ‘nightmare’ is a foregone conclusion. Will the country elect a ‘convicted felon?’ Given how thin the margins will be in a handful of crucial swing-states, I’m not sure that anyone can reliably predict an answer. Unfortunately, women will certainly decide the election and women (as a demographic) are notoriously gullible…an indisputable fact which is supported by advertisers targeting women 9:1.
If convicted, I think it will require a Herculean effort to get Trump successfully across the finish line…which of course is exactly why they’re doing this.
LI should have been a little more informative. When Trump is convicted on at least one count (this is a NY jury don’t forget), must he remain in NYS until sentencing? I think the answer is he must get permission from a judge to leave the jurisdiction of the court… and this is the whole point — to prevent him from campaigning by being stuck in New York.
That would be a helluva thing…. NY as I understand, counts DAYS and NIGHTS of the year you are in NY for income tax purposes.
These judges make Flip Wilson look legit.
“Mr. Trump’s attempt to move the case out of Manhattan was not the only delay strategy he deployed on Monday. In a separate proceeding, he indicated that he planned to file an unusual type of lawsuit against the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan.”
“Delay strategy” — or maybe he’s just using every approach available to him. Not to delay, but legit to get off.
“Unusual … lawsuit” — well, The Orange Man Bad’s position is that the situation is unusual. Extraordinary situations, extraordinary responses.
I get the ick agreeing with Noam Chomsky, but he’s right when he says you can get facts from the NYT, but you have to read it a particular way to do so.