Defense moves for mistrial over Daniels' testimony
Trump's defense team has moved for a mistrial over Stormy Daniels' testimony
"We move for a mistrial based on the testimony this morning," defense attorney Todd Blanche said following the lunch break.
"The guardrails by this witness answering questions by the government were just thrown to the side," Blanche said.
"There is no remedy that we can fashion ... to unring this bell," Blanche said about the impact of Daniels' testimony.
Blanche argued the prosecutors wanted to embarrass Trump and inflame the jury and was far afield from a case about falsification of business records.
"She talked about a consensual encounter with President Trump that she was trying to sell," Blanche said. "We heard a completely different story."
Blanche argued that the testimony regarding condoms, being "blacked out" and and the "power dynamic" prejudiced the jury.
"This has nothing to do with the reason why we're here," Blanche said. "How can you un-ring a bell?"
The prosecution pushed back.
"Her account completes the narrative that precipitated the falsification of business records," Hoffinger said. "It is precisely what the defendant did not want to become public."
I have a feeling he doesn't have the best lawyers representing him.
Either they are bad lawyers or they were strategically withholding their objections in order to file the mistrial motion. I fully expect this to be brought up again in an appeal, assuming Trump loses the case.
Convicted defendents in New York stay in prison during the appeal process. But of course we wont see that fucking happen because money reasons.
May it be too late for CheeseTurd by then.
Can they file for a miss trail on the grounds that they themselves didn't do the thing that's expected of them in the time it was expected for them to do it.
Surely a lawyer can't deliberately do a bad job, and then file for a mistrial.
As far as I'm aware nothing will stop them from trying to do that. It's up to the judge (or judges if it goes to an appeal) to decide whether their argument makes sense. While I'd hope that a competent judge will see their shenanigans for what it is, I have no doubt that someone has made that strategy work at some point.
To be clear, I'm not a lawyer, so naturally don't take my word for it.
That's exactly what they were aiming for. It was their hail Mary because they know they don't have an actual defense
Yes, but also in their defense they don't have the best client. It's like they deserve each other.
I've been following this trial very closely. Trump is the problem. He demands that his lawyers challenge everything very aggressively. He is enraged if his counsel accepts even trivial facts that make no difference either way. The bigger question is why they put up with his tantrums.
Money, probably...
He's not gonna pay. He'll say he lost so why pay. He's got almost 500 million on bond for business fraud, 5 million for rape of Ms. Carroll, I think I'm missing another big one, and he's freaking out at donors for not giving enough.
He's got no field offices set up and only really doing campaign rallies, if you don't count the desperate emails begging for donations. The only thing keeping his "campaign" going right now is the cult.
He's been having to pay up front since he lost White House counsel.
Don't you think his lawyers insisted on a large retainer up front? They all know his finances.
There have been loads of people who knew he doesn't pay and still thought they'd be the exception.
He's literally having to pay up front. Kise got a $5M retainer.
If he paid lawyers, he might get good ones.
"But Merchan says he was also surprised there were not more objections from the defense and that, at one point, he stepped in of his own accord to restrict Daniels’ testimony."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/may/07/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-fine-gag-order-violations-live?page=with:block-663a734d8f08de1164c8978e&filterKeyEvents=false#liveblog-navigation
Blanche was actually a pretty respected prosecutor turned defense attorney, its surprising he took the case unless he wanted to get out of law and this was his swansong before transitioning to some sweet talkinghead gig or other well-paid right-wing political operative role
Yeah historically they like being paid and really aren’t jumping at the chance to do polarizing work for free
Blanche used to be a respected lawyer. I hope the payday was enough to pay for the reputational damage he's taking.