Trump would be making risky bet if he's banking on jury nullification: legal expert
August 25, 2023
Some legal experts believe a Georgia jury may acquit Donald Trump on racketeering and other charges as a form of protest, but a former federal prosecutor argued that the risk of that was low.
The former president was charged with violating the RICO Act in Fulton County, along with 18 other co-defendants, and concerns have been raised that jurors could believe district attorney Fani Willis overcharged Trump and then refuse to convict him, no matter how strong the evidence, but former federal prosecutor Shan Wu told CNN that he didn't see that happening.
"Sure, the traditional motion of a RICO case originated with Rudy Giuliani's use of it against the Mafia, but as long as you make the legal elements, you can charge it," Wu said. "This particular office is quite expert at using RICO in the nontraditional ways. It's a broader statute, so from a legal standpoint, they are going to try to use jury nullification, but probably not based on that. That assumes a level of sophistication among the jurors, [who] go, 'Oh, you shouldn't use RICO cases in anything but the Mafia.'"
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"Their challenge is really connecting the dots to the masterminds because it's not looking like a violent crime enterprise," Wu added. "They do have to connect those dots, but as a legal matter, I don't think that's going to be tough. The real challenge is the logistic of having that many defendants in the case."
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