(RepublicanView.org) – New York Judge Juan Merchan has declined to penalize prosecutors for providing thousands of documents to Donald Trump’s defense attorneys weeks before his “hush money” trial was due to start, prompting a delay. Merchan moved the trial opening date from March 25 to April 15 to allow Trump’s lawyers more time to absorb the new materials.
The former President’s defense team argued that the late document provision amounted to prosecutorial misconduct and, therefore, the case should be thrown out, but Merchan rejected this. In his most recent ruling, the Judge said prosecution penalties were unnecessary because Trump did not suffer undue prejudice or other disadvantage due to the delayed document provision.
A New York Appellate Court also ruled that Judge Merchan would not be recused from Trump’s criminal trial. Defense attorneys appealed to the court after Merchan previously refused to recuse himself on the grounds of his daughter’s employment with a consultancy firm that worked with Joe Biden’s Presidential campaign in 2020.
The Appellate Court found that the former President’s attorneys had failed to prove that the Judge acted outside of his jurisdiction in refusing to recuse himself. They had also failed to establish that Trump had any right to require such a recusal.
Lawyers on both sides of the first criminal trial involving Donald Trump made their final arguments in the week commencing May 20, leaving only final summations the following week. Jury deliberation began on Wednesday, May 29. If convicted, Trump could face fines or even a prison term. However, if Trump decides to appeal, the case could continue for months.
Arguments for appeal could center on Stormy Daniels and her testimony, which initially prompted Trump’s lawyers to call for a mistrial. They claimed that Daniels’ testimony was unduly detailed and risked causing jury prejudice, but Judge Merchan said the lawyers should have registered their objections during the testimony.
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