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'Stunningly stupid': Legal expert flattens Trump lawyers over comparison to racist case
August 28, 2023 9:06PM ET
A legal expert on Monday flattened Donald Trump’s legal team for likening the former president’s plight in the Jan. 6 election conspiracy case to an infamous 1931 rape case in which the convictions of several Black teens charged with rape were overturned because they didn’t have time to retain adequate counsel.
Retired California Supreme Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, during an appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” suggested that the comparison may not serve the interests of their client.
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Cordell was responding to a question from the host over Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision to set a March 4, 2024, date for the start of Trump’s trial.
“It's absolutely fair," Cordell explained. "Judge Chutkan deliberated, heard everyone on both sides, and set a date that I think is a reasonable date. It may change, but for now, I think it's reasonable. But I’ll tell you Kaitlan, the moment in that hearing that struck me, I only have two words to describe it as ‘stunningly stupid.' And that was when Trump's attorney compared their desire to delay the case to what happened in the case of Powell v Alabama, a 1931 case involving the Scottsboro boys who were convicted of raping two white women and the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court and their convictions were reversed."
In that case, the boys were forced to go to trial with little preparation. Trump demanded two years.
“What the Trump team did was say that, ‘well, what happened in that trial is what could happen here in this trial,’ which is absolutely absurd," she continued. "In the Scottsboro case the Scottsboro boys were indicted, and were on trial six days later, not even given the opportunity to choose their attorneys. In this case, there was an indictment, but …the trial date is seven months out. He has experienced lawyers, a whole team of investigators. And it was stunningly stupid because, one, the comparison is ridiculous, but second, if you want to alienate a judge in a case, this was exactly what to do."
Cordell suggested the comparison risks aggravating Chutkan.
“A female judge, a Black judge, and to talk about that case and compare it to Trump's case was absurd," closed Cordell. "And Judge Chutkan really took them up on it and said, this case is entirely different. I think she was absolutely offended. It was really a stunningly stupid thing to do.”
Watch the video below or at the link.
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