As Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial draws to a close, the former president’s legal team has an important decision to make. The question is whether or not to ask the jury to consider misdemeanor charges in this case.
At a arraignment conference ahead of closing arguments scheduled for early this week, the Trump campaign will instead request that jurors consider 34 misdemeanor charges of falsifying business records, known as so-called misdemeanor offenses (LIOs) under New York state law. be able to. Prosecutors say former President Ethan Greenberg committed 34 felonies. wrote in the Wall Street Journal Sunday.
“A LIO is a low-level crime that carries a light penalty and falls within the definition of the more serious crime for which the defendant is charged,” Greenberg explained.
Greenberg said the Trump campaign’s main reason for choosing legal action is because the sentencing guidelines associated with misdemeanors are much lighter.
Each of the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison. If convicted of the misdemeanor, Greenberg said, he faces up to two years in prison.
However, Greenberg noted that filing an LIO is a gamble for the Trump campaign, and could be requested at the discretion of prosecutors or Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan.
If both sides and Marchan considered only felonies, without an LIO, and the jury found that President Trump intentionally falsified the record, but not to cover up a crime, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg claims. If found to be true, the former president would be acquitted.
Based on jury findings similar to those in the LIO, Trump will be convicted on the misdemeanor charge, which only requires proof that the former president intentionally falsified business records, Greenberg said.
Prosecutors say the alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels were part of Trump’s illegal effort to influence the 2016 election by hiding a damaging sex scandal from voters. The charges have been filed.
Another drawback to the Trump campaign’s request for an LIO is that it would make the appeal path more difficult if he were convicted of a misdemeanor.
“The vast majority of New York case law requires that a defendant file a lesser offense, and if he is convicted of that offense, the defendant may have to file an appeal on the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting that lesser charge. “I waive my right to object,” Greenberg wrote.
