My prediction, and it’s not because I”m a hand-wringing lib pessimist, is that Trump will at least get a hung jury if not an acquittal in the hush money trial. Too much reasonable doubt out there, IMHO. Falsifying business records, yes, that’s a fact. But it’s a misdemeanor. Extending that to an election-interference felony seems a bridge too far. That’s likely why the previous prosecutor didn’t pursue it. I hope I’m wrong, because I think he’s guilty. Easy for me to say. I’m not on the jury.
@johnldeboer I think Trump will get special treatment because of who he is, and how much trouble he can cause people. He'll get away with things because he's rich and he has followers that can burn things down and threaten people.
It's not because of reasonable doubt. We know he used campaign funds to pay hush money, and that's against the law. It's not even because of the hush part, it's the campaign funds part and fraud, and there's a paper trail and witnesses.
@AskTheDevil Using campaign funds to pay hush money might be a crime, but that has to be proved.
Sure, Trump gets special treatment because of his wealth and status, and this underlines the double standard in our justice system. But I don’t buy that this special treatment will be given by the twelve jurors in the case because of retribution fear. Al Capone was convicted. So was John Gotti. If anyone could reach out to get a juror whacked, they could.
@AskTheDevil C”mon, man. Those were examples to make a point. How about you giving me an example of an acquittal based on jury fear of the accused? Jury nullification is a real thing, but I’ve never heard of it happening because of timidity, but to prevent “one of their own” from going to prison. Trump doesn’t have that kind of support, but he could have a juror who will deny evidence and cause a hung jury. A unanimous acquittal would mean the state failed, not that the jury was scared.
@johnldeboer So you think that because some people less powerful than Trump were convicted decades ago by different people, that it inevitably follows that none of these jurors will be intimidated, or biased?
Why do you think so?