'Jurors aren't blind:' Expert warns Trump's rants will be held against him
Juries don't like the unruly behavior Donald Trump and attorney Alina Habba are exhibiting in court, a MSNBC legal expert argued Wednesday.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance took to the airwaves to dissect Trump and Habba's antics in the federal New York City courtroom where the former president faces off against E. Jean Carroll, the writer he's been found liable of sexually abusing and defaming.
"What's really surprising here is the number of times [Judge Lewis Kaplan] has had to admonish Alina Habba," Vance said. "She has been told to stand up when she speaks to the court. To sit down after the judge rules."
Kaplan, Vance noted, "doesn't tolerate nonsense." She also raised an eyebrow at Trump's behavior.
"He's been disruptive," Vance said. "He's made comments that are audible to the jury that go into matters that the defense has been prohibited from discussing in court."
Vance believes Trump's muttering is his way of circumventing the rule barring him revisiting a 2023 ruling that found him liable of abusing Carroll in the 1990s and denying it repeatedly in recent years, she said.
As for Habba, Vance believes the attorney is showing her inexperience.
"Lawyers don't win arguments with judges in court about how the judge intends to run their courtroom," explained Vance. "So, this will not end well for Ms. Habba. It will not end well for Trump."
The jury, Vance argued, will understand that their behavior is not appropriate in a court of law.
"Jurors aren't blind," Vance said. "They're able to understand these kinds of dynamics, and they do tend to hold them against lawyers and client who misbehave in the courtroom."
See her full comments in the video below or at the link here.
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