The Supremes Weigh-in to Locate Presidential Immunity - Weinstein case in NY is Overturned on Prior Bad Acts - Wanna Bet Trump Will Walk too?
Justice is 'Not' Blind - it is Bought & Paid For...
It is no wonder why Americans have no faith in the judicial system, I know I don’t - and I’m a lawyer! I’ve seen the wrong people win, over and over, with lies, fraud, deceit and just plain BS. And unfortunately, this issue of “presidential immunity” that they beleaguered over today, is just a farce to kick the can down the road to absolve the Supremes and Trump appointees of weighing in - especially where one of their wives (Ginny Thomas, wife of “Justice” Clarence Thomas) was instrumental in helping stage the attempted coup on January 6. With the fox guarding the hen-house, is there no doubt Trump will be absolved, rise to power, as the Supreme Court seems poised to weigh in as Kavanaugh said, they’ve never taken on the issue of self-pardoning - but no doubt that issues will soon appear. Surely that remedy will lay ahead of Trump to absolve himself of wrongdoing if people succumb to his lies and deceit, and vote him in.
As I listened to the Trump NY Hush Money, Election Fraud case being argued, I marveled at how he got David Pecker, former CEO of the National Inquirer at the time was engaged to do Trump’s bidding. As he stated himself on the witness stand, he acted as Trump’s “eyes and ears” - capturing and ‘killing’ (paying to not publish) as to any bad stories that could harm Trump’s 2016 presidential election. He also went further, maligning Trump’s opponents in his newspaper with lies. Lies about Ted Cruz - that his father killed JFK, or how Marco Rubio (known as a family man), had five mistresses on the side, or how Hillary Clinton was dying of some remarkable disease. And of course, how any “true” and defamatory information was bought and paid for by David Pecker (at least $180k worth) as CEO of the National Inquirer. The purpose and motive of which in 2016, Trump could get rid of his Republican rivals and come out smelling like a rose…
Yet, “miraculously” these sycophants who were maligned came out to endorse him even though Trump with the help of his co-conspirator Pecker, slandered and defamed them, their family and even put them in harm’s way or retribution by his lies. I can’t imagine even in an alternate reality where everyone in his orbit who has been victimized could now show fealty to their maligner - I can’t even imagine how anyone who is sent to represent others in the seat of government could have such distorted values and reprehensible thinking.
How can anyone endorse a man so vile and contemptuous, who has shown who he is, and that nothing is off limits? Who will harm others if it benefits himself in whatever endeavor he undertakes? This just shows me what I’ve always believed, there is no integrity in government, politics and the courts. I sometimes wonder if it ever really did exist. But here, the judicial system has been coopted, weaponized against trust, integrity and justice - we are quickly accelerating down that slippery slope to dictatorship, where democracy will be forgotten - as it now barely exists.
Yet even though I am dismayed, it cements my belief in what the Bible foretold, that people would be tricked and deceived, by the anti-Christ who would come to take power and control, deceiving the masses with his rhetoric and betrayals. With the war now in Israel, there is no doubt this has significance as to what was foretold.
As for January 6, let’s not continue the charade. We all saw and heard in real-time what Trump said and did to assemble the mob and give them marching orders to take on the events at the Capitol - we all saw and heard it with our own eyes. Where his own Vice-President and Members of Congress running for cover, ducking in their offices, barricading their doors, even though we are supposed to say “alleged” - yet we saw Trump beckon his supporters to the Capitol in real-time. We saw with our own eyes and heard with our own ears what happened that day. To say “alleged” or “otherwise,” is a distortion or reality, something in which I will never oblige.
Yet, the question before us all, Are going to pretend that we didn’t see what we saw? A man egging-on his supporters to go to the Capitol, knowing they were armed, telling his people he wanted the magnetometers near the Capitol turned off (devices that detects metal objects including guns and knives), despite sending them off to do war - to stop the certification of the electoral counting, telling the swath of armed militiamen, telling them to “fight like hell.” Those are fighting words - how much more do we need to know? This is what Trump’s own aide had to say about the former president and his actions on Janurary 6:
Testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson at Tuesday’s Jan. 6 House Committee hearing revealed conversations former President Donald Trump had with White House officials backstage at the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol Trump was upset that the crowd wasn’t large enough to fill the rally space, according to Hutchinson, and blamed the security measures in place that kept supporters who were wielding weapons from entering. He implored his staff to let more people in and “take the f-ing mags away,” according to Hutchinson. Here is what Trump meant by “mags.”
We witnessed his behavior on TV, people died, and many police were severely and permanently injured - some even took their own lives. But we are now seeing Trump playing his charade of “immunity” before the Supreme Court.
This is a no-brainer, no one can be immune for acts they instigate that are of such epic proportion - but this seems to be the trend. Where right is wrong, and wrong is right, and the law has no merit, and neither truth or justice shall ever meet. Just as it is clear that Trump incited a riot, an insurrection on the seat of our government and the critical time of transition of power, we now have Harvey Weinstein, another bad actor, with his judgement as a rapist vacated, because the NY Court of Appeals believed there was some error.
In a 4-3 vote, a NY Appeals court overturned his conviction, finding that “prior bad acts” evidence should not have been admitted against Weinstein. Prior Bad Acts evidence is admitted in criminal and civil cases, if after weighing the evidence to determine it’s prejudicial vs probative value - where “bad acts” that are similar in the past (which witnesses gave testimony about having been sexually assaulted by Weinstein), are not admitted for their “truth” but are admitted to show: Motive, Intent, Absence of Mistake, Identity, Common Plan/Scheme (similar modus operandi). In New York state this “prior bad act” evidentiary “exception” on “propensity evidence” is referred to in NY as the Molineux rule, named after a NY case Molineux rule, after the seminal case of People v Molineux in 1901].
Under rule 4.21 NY Rules of Evidence is the following:
4.21. Evidence of Crimes and Wrongs (Molineux) (1) Evidence of crimes, wrongs, or other acts committed by a person is not admissible to prove that the person acted in conformity therewith on a particular occasion or had a propensity to engage in a wrongful act or acts. This evidence may be admissible when it is more probative than prejudicial to prove, for example: motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, common scheme or plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake or accident, or conduct that is inextricably interwoven with the charged acts; or to provide necessary background information or explanation; or to complete the narrative of the subject event or matter. (2) In a criminal proceeding, where the defendant interposes a defense, the People on rebuttal may prove the defendant’s commission of other crimes or wrongs when such crimes or wrongs are relevant and probative to disprove the defense.
So why is it that a court would give a serial predator the benefit of the doubt and put traumatized victims of his crimes again through the burden and trauma of testifying again for no good reason? It is clear, holding powerful men with money accountable is a feat in itself. If any of these men were poor, destitute and black, they would hardly be given a second look. And so here we are.
I say emphatically, the judicial system in this country is broken, apparently irretrievably broken - where if you have enough money, power and connections, you can pretty much do anything you want. As one infamous man said on the Access Hollywood tape, you can “grab them by the p***y - if your a star, “you can do anything”
Copyright 2024, Mary Kay Elloian, MBA, JD, Esq. The Legal Edition® - Legal, Business & Policy News - All Rights Reserved.