Why President Trump’s Indictment and His Entire New York Case Will Be Dismissed
President Elect Donald Trump will take office as our country’s 47th President following his election where he won the popular vote and the electoral college vote by a wide margin. While his New York criminal case remains active, it will likely be dismissed prior to Mr. Trump reassuming his Presidential powers.
The District Attorney’s weak response to Court’s request for their position on the case ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling on Presidential Immunity as well as established Constitutional Principles which govern the executive branch of government. The prosecution is basically asking the Court to suspend the entire case for over 4 years which would be completely unprecedented. Further, such a status would clearly hinder Trump’s ability to act in the best interest of the Country.
While Judge Juan Merchan has yet to issue ruling in this case, President Trump defense team will focus its argument on Trump’s position as President which, even without the recent Supreme Court decision, would prevent the case from concluding in timely manner.
New York law is very clear on sentencing without unreasonable delay which this situation would clearly violate it. Further the defense can point to the DA’s investigation which took years, charges not filed until after Trump declared his candidacy and a trial in the middle of a Presidential Campaign.
The Defense can provide Judge Merchan with multiple constitutional avenues to base a decision while the prosecution is asking the Court to suspend the proceeding for over 4 years while ignoring a U.S. Supreme Court decision and well established constitutional principles designed to ensure that the executive branch can effectively govern which the District Attorney himself has already conceded.
Motion to Dismiss an Indictment
Once the grand jury has acted or voted to indict a person, an indictment is only dismissed on the clearest and plainest ground and only when the indictment is manifestly deficient or defective. Here, President Trump’s defense lawyer will argue that the Supreme Court’s decision pertaining to Presidential Immunity excluded evidence which was presented to the grand jury. There is no way for the district attorney to argue that the Grand Jury would have still indicted Mr. Trump had this evidence been excluded.
Judge Merchan must evaluate whether, viewing the evidence and the rational inferences drawn from that evidence in the light most favorable to the People (New York), a grand jury could reasonably believe that a crime occurred and that Trump committed it. An Indictment is not a conviction, but simply that the State has met its initial burden of proof that it was more probable not that a crime occurred, and the person charged committed that crime.
A Motion to dismiss an indictment is used if the evidence was insufficient to support the charges within the indictment and it can be based on several factors, including the State’s failure to properly instruct the Grand Jury and/or the State’s witnesses misleading the Grand Jury.
It is important to understand that even if a Court dismisses the indictment, it can dismiss it without prejudice. This allows the State to re-present the matter to a second Grand Jury in an attempt to correct the deficiencies which led to the dismissal. This would not happen in President Trump’s case!
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