CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig asserted on Tuesday that there are reasonable questions about the fairness of Judge Juan Merchan enabling jurors to choose between three crimes to convict former President Donald Trump without being in unanimous agreement.
Merchan instructed the jury Wednesday that they do not need to agree on the “unlawful” means Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleges the former president used to influence the 2016 election. Honig said that the instruction is likely permissible, but that it is justified to question its fairness. (RELATED: ‘Greatest Liar Of All Time’: Trump Defense Closes With All-Out Assault On Michael Cohen’s Credibility)
“There’s three menu items: federal campaign finance violations, tax violations and then falsification of other business records,” Honig said. “And what’s become a little bit controversial is the judge said, you can choose any of those three options. You don’t have to be unanimous as to which one. That’s caused some controversy. It’s probably allowable under New York law because all they have to show is an intent to commit some other crime, but there are fair questions about whether that’s a fair way to charge it.” (RELATED: ‘RIGGED: Death Of The American Voter’ — Stream Now)
WATCH:
CNN host Jake Tapper said the characterization of Merchan not requiring unanimity from the jurors is “kind of true, kind of not true,” while network legal analyst Elliot Williams said it is “kind of grossly misleading.”
“They have to be unanimous as to the crime that Donald Trump is charged for, which is falsifications of business records in the first degree,” Williams added. “Now, this question of how you treat that other crime, and I assure you there was a hot debate among the three of us and another attorney in the green room before … But seriously the question of what has to be alleged and proven, I think, is an open question, but an interesting one legally.”
Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy McCarthy said on Wednesday the jury instruction by Merchan is an aberration.
“This is anything but standard. It’s the antithesis of standard,” McCarthy said. “The idea that they do not have to agree on what the other crime is. We spent six weeks wondering what is the other crime and at the end the thud we all get hit with, there’s three or four of ’em and you could pick one or the other and they don’t have to agree on it.”
Bragg indicted Trump in 2023 on 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business documents related to reimbursing his former attorney Michael Cohen for a payment he made for a nondisclosure agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. To charge Trump with a felony, Bragg alleged the purpose of the alleged falsification was to conceal or commit another crime, but he did not specify the aggravating offense in the indictment.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correct the segment was not on “CNN News Room With Jim Acosta.”
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