After the judge rejected one motion to dismiss, she opened the door for the arguments to be brought back in a jury instruction âexercise.â
Mr. Smith is prosecuting President Trump on 40 counts related to mishandling classified documents, and last month Judge Cannon held a hearing regarding two motions to dismiss counts 1â32 based on the Presidential Records Act and for constitutional vagueness.
Hours after the hearing, the judge denied the second motion without prejudice, writing that the arguments could be renewed in relation to jury instructions.
The judge soon ordered both parties to respond to a jury instruction âexercise,â as the parties described it, opening the door for the defense to submit their arguments to dismiss in the proper form.
âVoid-for-Vaguenessâ
The judge had required the parties to contemplate how the Presidential Records Act should be explained to jurors as it applied to the case.
The defense, including President Trump in many public statements, had repeatedly argued that the Presidential Records Act gave President Trump the right to possess the documents he had.
During the hearing, the judge pushed back on this claim, arguing that the indictment charges President Trump under the Espionage Act, making no mention of the Presidential Records Act. Namely, a document could be designated personal, but still contain highly classified information.
She commented that the argument amounted to asking the court to rule that one law âsupersededâ the other and criticized the defense for this reasoning.
In an April 2 court filing, the defense argued that the inability of these two laws to be reconciled in these scenarios underscored the âvaguenessâ of the charges against President Trump, and that they should be dropped.
âAs applied to President Trump, § 793(e) is unconstitutionally vague and âno law at all,ââ the defense argued.
âWe therefore renew President Trumpâs void-for-vagueness challenge … which the Court denied without prejudice on March 14, 2024, âto be raised as appropriate in connection with jury-instruction briefing and/or other appropriate motions,’â the filing reads.
âPersonalâ Documents
The judge had required the parties to grapple with who had the authority to determine whether presidential records were instead âpersonal,â and whether these documents being both classified and personal would change a juryâs determination of the guilt or innocence of the former president.
The defense argued that neither the court nor jury had the authority to review President Trumpâs decision to designate articles as personal, and to allow that would invite a number of constitutional errors.
âTo do so would be to âhand off the legislatureâs responsibility for defining criminal behavior to unelected prosecutors and judgesââas well as to jurorsâand to âleave people with no sure way to know what consequences will attach to their conduct,’â they argued, citing precedent.
The court must not fashion new, âclearerâ laws when a vague one is before them, but instead treat âthe law as a nullity,â the filing reads.
They argued that both the indictment and special counselâs office in arguments have said that President Trump âcausedâ records to be removed from the White House, in effect conceding that he had the authority to remove them.
The defense noted other civil, but not criminal, cases where courts had to review âguidelines and policy-level applications of PRA,â and argued that the âBiden Administration and NARA never attempted to obtain such civil review, preferring instead to weaponize DOJ and the Special Counselâs Office in furtherance of the election-interference mission.â
The defense argued that the case should not be presented to a jury, which would then be required to determine whether classified documents were properly classified.
They also argued that the lack of any precedent for the situation President Trump faces under this indictment highlights the motion to dismiss the case based on selective and vindictive prosecution still before the court, requesting a hearing on the matter.
Request for Hearings
The defense proposed hearings for several matters, including the other pending motion to dismiss, and another to require the special counsel to offer evidence that President Trump received the classified documents as part of presidential briefings.
They noted that they also have a motion to dismiss based on presidential immunity before the court, and the issue will be argued before the Supreme Court this month.
âThese circumstances further support President Trumpâs request that the presidential immunity motion be held in abeyance pending the Supreme Courtâs resolution of Trump v. United States,â the filing reads.
The defense stated that if the case is not dismissed before the conclusion of the Supreme Court review, they would request an evidentiary hearing on presidential immunity applied to this case.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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