Trump prosecutors handed 'advantage' by NY court system before jury starts deliberations
A quirk in the state of New York criminal justice system will hand Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office the upper hand in Donald Trump's hush money trial playing out in Judge Juan Merchan's courtroom.
This coming week, after a Memorial Day weekend hiatus, the trial of the former president for manipulating Trump Organization business records to hide a substantial hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election will feature closing arguments and then the jury will be sent off to consider the 34-felony count indictment.
During an appearance on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show," conservative attorney George Conway explained he thinks the prosecution has the upper hand based upon contemporaneous documents detailing the payment scheme which he predicted will become a central focus in their closing argument.
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Add to that, he noted, prosecutors will be in a better place than the defense because they will get the last shot at addressing the jury before they begin deliberations so the prosecution's presentation will be foremost in their minds.
After stating "It's the story of the documents," he explained, "The way it works in New York state courts, which is unlike in some other courts like federal court, is that the defense gets to sum first and then the prosecution gets to sum next — it's not prosecution, defense, prosecution rebuttal like it would be in a lot of other courts."
"So the prosecution can really figure out how to basically wrap it all up and get the last word," he added. "And that is an advantage to the prosecution."
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MSNBC 05 25 2024 12 02 51 youtu.be