Saturday 16 September 2023

Can Trump get a fair trial?

The trials of Donald Trump are months away but the big question is already being asked. Can he get a fair trial? Can there be any jury-age person in the United States of America who doesn't have an opinion about the former president? Will it not be the case that everyone has a preconceived notion about the man and will therefore take that preconceived notion into the jury box? However much the judge appeals to the members of the jury to forget everything they know about Trump and focus solely on the evidence put by the prosecution, they will have already made up their minds, depending on whether they love him or hate him. It's a near impossibility that 12 jury members can be found who have not formed a view of the 45th president and the alleged offences he is supposed to have committed. This could mean that every jury at every Trump trial will be hopelessly divided and will therefore be unable to reach consensus. The only thing that gives some hope that a jury might be able to perform their duty without bias is that the grand juries who agreed to send Trump to trial DID do just that. They listened to the prosecution evidence and agreed there was enough meat on the bone to send him to trial. But the grand jury is very different from a publicly visible jury in a courtroom trial. If Trump is put on trial in Washington DC for the charges relating to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, it might be near-impossible for the Trump legal team to find a jury which is not already lined up against him. All these questions are going to have to be addressed before the former president appears in the dock.

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