#hung jury

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Trump has so many charges against him that he's almost certainly going to be convicted of something. Not everything, probably not even a majority, but something. He knows he won't get unanimous acquittals across the board, so his only hope will be to slip loyalists onto some of the juries to hang them. A mistrial means months or years of delays as prosecution works each case through the system all over again.

In New York, he'd be retried over and over until a unanimous verdict is reached, guilty or not guilty, however long that takes, and every state level Republican candidate from now on will campaign on promises to drop the charges or pardon him or help him in some way, shape, or form.

In Georgia (he hasn't been indicted yet, but it's coming), he's going to be pardoned almost immediately. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets pardoned before it even goes to trial. Yeah, the governor refused to find 11,000 votes for him, but he's still a Republican and trump is still the leader of his party. If he didn't pardon trump, he would be crucified by his voters and shamed out of office, and his successor would pardon him instead. If he stood his ground and couldn't be bullied into resigning, then just as in New York every Republican candidate would run on the pardon promise platform. Trump will NEVER face justice in Georgia.

In the federal case in Florida, a mistrial means the judge, a trump appointee, could drop the charges and prevent the DOJ from retrying it. Best case scenario, it would get delayed into 2025 or 2026 and a different judge in the southern district of Florida will be randomly assigned to it, but that's assuming Biden wins re-election in 2024. If trump wins, he'd immediately pardon himself, or invoke the 25th to have his loyalist VP pardon him to avoid a Supreme Court decision on a self-pardon's validity. If Biden wins, the 2028 Republican candidates will all run on promises to pardon him, so he'll be out of prison the second the White House goes red. I don't trust Democrats to hold the line long enough for him to die in prison.

The federal case in Washington, DC looks open and shut, the best chance for a conviction. Trump only has four appointees in that district, so the odds of him getting off on a retrial in case of a hung jury are 4 in 13, 30.77% (4/15, 26.67% if Biden can fill the two remaining vacancies). Again, all this does is kick the can down the road until 2025 or 2026. He will walk free whenever the Republicans take back power.

The only way donald trump faces long term consequences for his crimes is if New York stays solid blue for the rest of his life, something like the next 15 or 20 years. The federal charges will disappear the second one of his allies gets elected president; I don't think the party would nominate him for a fourth time in 2028 if he loses 2024 for them, so it's looking like it's gonna be ron desantis vs Kamala Harris (God help us all). Then again, who knows? A lot can happen in the next 5 years, so maybe some nobody will be frontrunner by then and desantis will have slinked away into post-gubernatorial obscurity like Jeb and Charlie Crist. Whoever trump endorses will be the nominee, so whoever strokes his ego the hardest will have hometeam advantage. My money says it'll be some blonde woman or a lightskinned black guy for diversity points (whoever it is, they'll be even farther right than trump himself)

[anti-workshop]

Can we get a photo and name of the narc who squealed?

NOBODY fucks that person EVER AGAIN! You hear me!? NO FUCKING THAT PERSON! May they never know the sensual touch of another person ever again.

AND they didn't get their 60k in blood money? GOOD! Jokes on them for believing the fucking cops.

Hope you're happy you piece of shit.

[remembertheplunge]

A Christmas Eve Miracle

12/24/2023I can’t recall if I have blogged this story before or not. But, being that it’s Christmas Eve, I thought it would be worth writing up and publishing here today.

A Christmas Eve Miracle happened Christmas Eve 2015, eight years ago.

Since my first years of criminal law practice up until about 2019, I would act now and them as pro term judge in traffic court, meaning, I would fill in for the actual judge.

Christmas Eve 2015, I did this out in traffic court on Floyd Ave in Modesto, California.

The afternoon session ended at about 2:30pm . At the stop light at Oakdale Road and Floyd, I looked out about 2 miles to the north west to see intense black low clouds. They seemed to be in the area where two significant events in my life had taken place.

I was in a grocery story there when the Loma Prieta earth quake hit at 5:04pm. October 17, 1989. The store floor began to have a rolling motion and things fell from the shelves. I thought the roof was going to give.  And in 2013 a man was killed in front of some apartments behind the store. I would be appointed to represent Lisandro Mendosa, one of 5 codefendants charged with a gang related murder of the man. A 6 month jury trial resulted in a hung jury and a New York Times article about the trial, “”How do you define a gang member?   New York Times Sunday Magazine 5/27/2015. The trial was long and emotionally violent.

I continued my drive down Floyd Ave toward home. I decided to stop at the Star Bucks for a hot chocolate at Coffee road and Floyd. It sits across Coffee Road and a parking lot from the store I was in during the 89 quake. Just beyond and behind the store is where the man was killed resulting in the Mendoza trial.

Before entering Starbucks, I stood about 40 feet from Coffee Road and leaned my head back. Fine mist was falling now . I closed my eyes, felt the mist on my face and sent a healing prayer out across the store and the seen of the killing beyond it. 

Just then, unbeknownst to me,  about a mile west on Coffee road, a  storm related microburst caused a tree to to fall into telephone wires causing 50 foot tall telephone poles to one by one collapse into Coffee Road headed in my direction.

I finished my prayer, unaware of the collapsing poles, and walked 17 seconds to the Star Bucks. Inside , the power was out and there was a general sense of panic . The staff locked the door and wouldn’t let us out. Starbucks had no windows facing Floyd or Coffee Road, so we couldn’t see that the pole 40 feet from where I said the prayer had collapsed into the street as well the one just beyond  that I had just driven by.

Despite the fact it was Christmas Eve afternoon, and that Coffee Road is a busy four lane road, no one was hurt or killed inn the mile long collapse of polls and live wires into the road.

We had been told during the Mendosa jury trial that the trial had been cursed by people in Vera Cruz, Mexico. The man who was killed was hispanic. Not sure who placed the curse or why.

I drove to the jail after leaving Starbucks to meet with Mr. Mendosa who was incarcerated there.

I told him about the telephone pole incident and asked him if he thought it was as a result of the curse. He said he didn’t thinks so. He said he thought it was a sign he would get a break in the case. He did. In 2016, he received a 16 year sentence instead of life in prison via a negotiated plea. Recently, due to a change in sentencing laws, he was re sentenced and released!

[william-r-melich]

Election Interference - 04/18/2024

Trump would like to be out campaigning, and instead he has been stuck in court all day every day this week for that ridiculous "hush money" court case, for which they have already selected 12 jurors. It usually takes much longer but given that it's nearly impossible for anyone to be completely fair and impartial, especially in Manhattan, NY, the potential jurors dropped very quickly. I don't want to spend much more time on this because the whole thing is ridiculous. Trump came out of the courtroom voicing his some of his frustrations. "I'm supposed to be in New Hampshire. I'm supposed to be in Georgia. I'm supposed to be in North Carolina and South Carolina. I'm supposed to be a hundred different places campaigning. But I'm here all day on a trial that really is a very unfair trial," he said. He held up several copies of news stories that sighted many legal scholars who declared what an unprecedented, unlawful, and immoral trial this is.

He spoke with disgust and anger in his voice as he thumbed through the thick stack of papers he held. "These are all stories over the last few days from legal experts, as is Wall Street Journal editorial. But all of these are stories from legal experts saying how this is not a case and the case is ridiculous, I see another one, the case is ridiculous. Trump indictment. It's missing fraud. There is no fraud." "Justice is on trial. You know, the whole world is watching this New York scandal trial." He called it a spectacle and went on to say, "The whole world is watching this hoax."

Opening statements will be heard on Monday, April 22nd, and gag-order violations will be addressed the following day, ridiculous! From what I read about the selected jurors, there's one that appears to have a good chance of voting not guilty, but I suppose you never know. Of course, it would take only one to make it a hung jury, which would be a big victory for Trump because this is such a bad case that it would more than likely be the end of it. Like I said a couple of days ago, this case should have never been brought. What a joke!

In spite of these sham trials, Trump continues to rise in the polls. It seems like bringing these cases against him makes him more popular. So, this election interference strategy of the left is backfiring so far, good! Trump is amazing. The more he's attacked, the stronger he gets.

[impzone]

after researching more into phalloplasty, i’ve been kind of blown away by how different the reality of people who have gotten the procedure is from the way people who haven’t had any kind of bottom surgery talk about it. even trans men who got it and had complications, or didn’t end up perfect, are still majorly happy with their results.

i know a lot of trans men with bottom dysphoria are taught to suppress it, and the dysphoric comments about how phalloplasty is awful and could never satisfy anyone don’t seem like they have an impact, but they do. other trans men see that, and it dissuades them from ever looking into a surgery that could greatly increase their quality of life.

take a minute and try to think about how many of the negative comments you see about bottom surgery are from people who have never had it, and who’s only perception is from other people who didn’t have it saying it’s not worth it. how many times have you considered it, and decided to give up because you’ve heard your fellow trans people constantly talking about how it would ruin you and leave you unhappy?

i know it sucks to not have a cis guy dick, but be mindful of what you say because it still shapes perception, and it can be really harmful especially if you’re coming at it from a purely hearsay and biased position.

technology has progressed so much, and phalloplasty does not leave you with an insensate tube of flesh you can do nothing with, i can tell you that much. it looks good, it feels good, and in the book Hung Jury results have been described as indistinguishable from cis genitalia. but ultimately there is more ways to measure the success of phalloplasty than how much it looks like a cis man’s junk. from what personal accounts i’ve read, it can and often is just as gender affirming and freeing as people talk about top surgery being.

[free-luigi-mangione]

yep, at this point the feds are only waiting for the state to see how it's gonna go and what sticks, so they can prepare their case against him based on that. i wish i was a fly on the wall because we have no idea about the evidence they have and whether he actually did it or not (he should walk free regardless, but if he's innocent then everything they have is total bs but they're going to try and frame him anyway) just to be a bit more prepared because this could go either really well or really bad, and it's killing me.

and i agree with what you said about the spirit of the law, even in my own country i've seen people end up for ages in jail for "trivial" stuff just because people were pissed about it and people who actually did horrible stuff serving for a few years because nobody gave a fuck. in luigi's case this could be a double edged sword, because they know that people would be pissed if they're too harsh on him (i don't even wanna take the dp into consideration for my own sanity) but at the same time powerful people want to make an example out of him, and unfortunately they seem to be in charge rn.

i'm really hoping people won't forget about him, these extentions make me feel like they're also looking forward to that. plus, like i stated in the past, i think making him the face of the healthcare movement fight (at least not rn) and/or like we've said a million times already (lol) being on his side but talking about him like he did it without granting him the benefit of the doubt isn't good for him because they'll be harsher on him. if we're looking at it from the "he's innocent" perspective, i believe him and his team haven't said anything about it because right now he can't afford to lose support and attention. hopefully you don't mind if i add my opinion about how, if he did it and wanted to be a "martyr" he'd be a whole lot vocal about the healthcare reform, could've asked for a plea deal. please forgive me if i also add that i hate how a lot of people took the karen letter an admission of guilt (as if he couldn't have been just sympathethic or taking it as an inspiring story to keep fighting and all of that) but didn't take the hash brown letter as a "i didn't do it so i'm joking about the fact that they arrested me for eating an hash brown because that's literally all i did" lol. all this just to say that hopefully we can all be more objective when his side of the story will be known. i don't think he did it, but i'm aware that there's a chance he actually did and i'm ready to support him regardless. just wish more people were a little more elastic and didn't jump to conclusions, because it could do him more harm than good.

and pls people finding his docker account is especially funny to me as a fellow swe💀 i'm so sorry for everything he's going through, i don't know how i'd feel if this had happened to me. he has a bigger fish to fry atm of course, but i wonder how he feels about it since we know he knows we've analyzed all his social media accounts.

that's all fair and good anon, but does your country have jury trials or bench trials?? because that makes a whole lot of differences. Luigi wouldn't be judged by judges or any experts at law, he'd be judged by his fellow citizens. the same fellow citizens who understand why if he did it, he did it. the same fellow citizens who are beyond pissed at the authorities and the current political climate in their country. if the citizens are truly by his side, it wouldn't matter if the authorities think they're in charge. them being in charge matters little when they can't give the final verdict at all. this is exactly why jury trials exist.

also no, even if he did do it, Luigi being more vocal about healthcare reform right now wouldn't help anybody. you speak of a plea deal, he'd get life without parole at best with that AND he'd also lose his voice and the ability to speak out for the people if he so wishes to in the future. so it genuinely wouldn't help a single person and even if he wants to, the public would lose their martyr whom they're projecting their issues onto and hoping things get better.

i agree with you on how you viewed those particular letters. also the hashbrown letter was just him joking, how many times do we say things like my only crime was to get up in the morning today because goddamn everything just sucked today. we all do that. he was just joking similarly. older people might have a hard time understanding gen z humour so that worries me but i get what he's saying and how he's coping with humour. and the karen letter is just him being empathetic, there's nothing more to that letter.

i genuinely don't get what people mean by 'when we get to hear his story'. we'll probably never hear him speak of it even if he did do it. why? he wouldn't take the stand if he wants to be free, because that would literally spell death for him. and even if he wanted to do it, he could potentially pull off a successful Marc Anthony. the prosecution would never let him do it. and his legal team is definitely fighting the charges, they're not gonna let him double down on it under any circumstances.

but regardless of that, he is innocent until and unless proven guilty. and even if he is, his letter of the law guilt shouldn't matter because then he should be freed because of the 'he's a hero' clause. so no matter what, he should walk free. and he deserves it either way.

[savvathun]

at this point the only way bungie could ever get me to grind out d2 before final shape launches would be to un-sunset the recluse/mountaintop god combo... so of course that's what they're doing lmao. my most beloveds will return to me at last! so much for quitting this ridiculous game 😔

[karmaphone]

also I fully believe if the Menendez trial(s) happened today it would have swung in the brothers' favor for two distinct reasons: 1) metoo means people are way more willing to believe survivors of sexual assault, including boys and men and 2) there would have been so much more public backlash as a result of disallowing making any part of their abuse part of their defense in the second trial they would have had to reverse it, if it was even attempted at all

[girlitfeelsgood]

no clue what's going on this year but I love seeing people freak out over the jury being terrible and biased as if this hasn't always been the case

[remembertheplunge]

Gang murder jury trial 2006

8/14/2006. 9:21pm

At one point Richard Herman exclaimed about me…”You are a fucking genius…”  Re: map of a house I had  witness draw re:

Drive by shooting.

Gene Trimble thinks Gun Shot Residue will prove “fatal” to our case.

So, an up day.

Walking out at 4:30pm, someone said “the real lawyers" re: Gene and I.

I felt so good that at 4:30pm when Judge called it quits—I wanted to keep going. 1pm to 4:30pm flew by in a snap.

8/15/2006. 5:47pm

Well, Gene thinks we may be in trial another month.

8/18/2006. 5:31am. Pre dawn

So, did I make a fool of myself yesterday? Again.  Or, was Gene right?  “Good Job” Whatever. Pick up you Easter eggs and move on.The trial was exhilarating. I think that we worked well together as a team—all four of us—Herman, Spokes, Trimble and Wentz.

8/22/2006

A moment of peace in a time of war. So, what of the trial? What of life? Intense fluff.

In a world where they’ll take life for a stick of gum in a second (3 strikes cases), we battle it out for months. Same penalty.  Life in Prison. Odd. The 3 strikes trial could take a day or two. We live in crazy times.

I think a key to the case is times like now. Times to settle. Times of release. Because—so much of it is Brass bands and Buffoons and smoke and mirrors. It’s a show! But, like Pippin, it’s end is real human sacrifice.

So, my job, our job, is cut to the quick. The Da’s  closings are short “hour and 15 minutes”.  Mine are 20 minutes. We both say “that’s all the juror’s can take." Length of the potential sentence does not equal the length of the close. Close can be  but a word.

End of this part of entries.

Note:

The above entries are in reference to a jury trial I was involved in that lasted from miClosing argumentdJune to about mid October 2006.

It was a co defendant gang murder case. It was held in the Modesto, California Stanislaus County Superior Court. The four co defendants were represented by myself, Gene Trimble, Earnie Spokes and Richard Herman. The trial resulted in a hung jury. The jury deliberated for three and a half weeks.

Later, I plead my client out to 14 years in prison.  If convicted at trial of first degree murder, my client and his co defendants would have been sentenced to a minimum of 25 to life. 

The Da’s case was that a few car loads of men were headed to a party in Newman, California, but, stopped off in Patterson. They were allegedly Surreno gang members.

They encounter a Norteno gang member walking along.  The Surreno’s jumped out of their vehicles, kicked and hit the Norteno. Then, one of the Surrenos  pulled out a gun , shot and killed the Norteno. The shooter fled and was not present at our trial as he had not yet been apprehended.

Easter eggs , a term I created for trial, are points that made it into evidence and thus can be argued in closing argument.

"Close "means closing argument in the jury trial

Pippen was a musical in which the main character at the end of the show is encouraged by screaming onlookers to kill himself for their entertainment.

Gun Shot Residue is gun powder left on your hands or clothing after you shoot a gun.

[cleverthylacine]

This so much.

I was once de-selected from a jury because I work at a medical school and had to admit “I know more about DNA than my mom does.”

You think that’s gonna be a fair trial...?

[allevilsarc]

it's so funny to follow me on lb bc what do you mean these were my last four films watched

[zinogirl]

Do I piss you off, sire?

[charl0ttan]

the newest trick in the book was actually invented in 1963 but wasnt canonized until october 2023, a very controversial distinction that the community is split on. this happened due to lengthy litigation surrounding the trick, with seven hung juries and over 120 confirmed gavel bangs