Donald Trump’s Manhattan trial has come to an end with closing arguments. The jury will now enter deliberations, after which Trump will face sentencing if found guilty.
The odds of Trump being convicted are relatively serious, as the jury is from Manhattan, which has voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. However, a single juror could shift the balance and result in a mistrial. Fox News says:
The jury has been away from the courtroom for a week, after the evidentiary portion of the trial concluded last Tuesday. Due to scheduling conflicts and the Memorial Day holiday, the jury will return at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday to hear summations of the case from prosecutors and defense attorneys before deliberating on a verdict.
The Manhattan case, brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg against Trump turned testy last Monday when defense attorneys made a second attempt to dismiss the case, saying no evidence had been presented by the prosecution to connect the former president to any falsification of business records.
A guilty verdict would be a problem for Trump, but not as much as a potential prison sentence. Would Merchan give him time in a penitentiary, or would she instead give him a suspended sentence with community service? Politico continues:
At that hearing, Merchan, like all judges weighing whether to impose a prison sentence, would weigh a variety of factors beyond the guilty verdict. They include: Has the offender committed any crimes before? Does he express remorse? Is he a danger to the community? Would his incarceration discourage others from committing the same crime?
Trump, of course, has no prior criminal convictions — even though he’s under indictments in three other cases and has been held in contempt twice during the trial for repeated violations of Merchan’s gag order. Given that he is famous for never saying sorry — even, in his own telling, to God — any expression of remorse seems unlikely.
Regardless of the outcome, Trump still has at least two other trials to take care of, one in Georgia, and a federal one in Florida. He can still benefit from this political persecution, which has “conveniently” been unleashed at the same time an election year.
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