Only means they had a piss poor case.
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About 98% of cases never go to trial.
The default is plea agreements and other things, trials are extremely rare against caseload.
Nothing to do with the strength or weakness of any given case. Bird in the hand and all that.
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The plea always reflects the strength of the case and/or relative strength of lawyers on each side. Defense cleaned up big time.
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BG versus AG (Before Garland’s Warrants vs After Garland’s Warrants)…a new way of telling time. We are in Month # 1 of AG
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Thanks for the legal education. Us non lawyer types often do not see the forest from the trees. And I have no doubt that AG James will exercise the subpoena option.
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There won’t be much, if any, savings if they still have to try the case against the Trump Organization. I didn’t tally them up, but about half the 15 counts in the indictment list Weisselberg and the Trump Organization as co-defendants. The rest are just for Weisselberg.
The facts look pretty intermingled, though, and dropping the Weisselberg counts still leaves the bulk of the case to be presented to the jury.
All of which makes me fear they are going to drop the case against the Trump Organization.
[ETA]
This is only true if his attorneys can’t demonstrate that he has other potential criminal liability. The easiest way to do that is to raise the specter of prosecution under a different sovereign.
- In federal court, we would say “Well, judge, the state can still prosecute him for xxxxx.”
- In state court, my counterpart would say “Well, judge, the feds could still go after him.”
I’ve done three-party deals for immunity in both venues, but they’re hard to arrange.
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And you’re basing this on what, exactly?
Whatever you read in school about the wonders of our jury system, reality is that there are a shit-ton of cases where people plead guilty to lesser charges even if they believe themselves to be fully innocent, because juries can be unpredictable (or quite predictable in cases, for example, in convicting minorities at higher rates because they figure they must be guilty or why would they be in court-- not like there’s any history of that in this country).
And same on the prosecution side. Can have a solid case against a Rittenhouse, and have the jury come back with aquittal.
Actual facts and guilt have very little to do with plea bargains.
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So where does the IRS and NY Revenue come into play here? Decades of tax evasion on personal and corporate entities have go to rack up some serious liability plus interest and penalties.
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Working in a courtroom and watching dozens of plea bargains every week.
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How about my own personal speculation:
How do we know that this info isn’t being publicized to protect Weisselberg from trump’s goons?
Here’s another one: Epstein did not commit suicide (although the facts in the case make this one less speculative.)
Edited for clarity
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I understand the frustration, but remember this is only the chickenfeed charge of not reporting something like $140k of income for payroll/income taxes. That’s it. It’s not the under/over statement of property values, which is what Bragg was bribed into dropping the criminal investigation of.
It seems to be a way harsher sentence than normal in these cases, which would usually be a fine. They’re pissed he didn’t flip. And the reason he didn’t flip is his criminal exposure in manipulating property values, even as a cooperating witness, is way way higher than this minor fiddling.
It really is like nailing Al Capone for jaywalking.
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Right. Five months is a complete slap on the risk.
We don’t know what he has pled to. Unlikely to be parking tickets. I see people noting that this eliminates his ability to plead the Fifth in a case against the Trump organization. Assume he’d have to testify honestly or face potential perjury charges.
Hard to take this DA Bragg seriously. Also tempted to think Trump has been in touch with Weisselberg throughout all of this and that he’s cooked up a scheme to protect Trump organization assets.
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It was the tax on $900k. And in NY. So maybe $90k (I did read $140k) This is a chickenfeed case compared to all the other tax fraud TMFWWNBN is on the hook for. It’s not a serious case or existential threat to the racketeering company, the case that was is the one Bragg said he’d prosecute in his election campaign, then strangled after he was elected and the bribe was in his bank account.
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NY only, is my understanding.
IRS investigations division is so underfunded it can’t afford the railfare to NYC. Plus this case is too small to trouble the radar.
A plea bargain is like a good divorce negotiation. Give and take on both sides leads to a settlement both sides can live with.
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You’re right that sometimes people plead guilty even if they think they are innocent. And that prejudice plays a part. But I think you exaggerate when you say facts and guilt have “very little” to do with plea bargains.
From the defense side, the plea bargain calculus always includes at least the likelihood of conviction, the sentence offered in the plea, and the likely sentence after trial.
And the likelihood of conviction is heavily influenced by the facts the prosecution (and to a lesser extent the defense) will be able to present to the jury.
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Indeed…originally an Irish name
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In other words, once again, when it comes to the GQP and Trump KKKult, anyone writing the list of horribles that would result from them getting what they want is really just listing off features, not bugs.
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Take home message…
Pay your taxes.
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