Judge's latest move signals Trump is a 'particularly dangerous defendant': ex-prosecutor

Defendant Trump is a "particularly dangerous defendant."

The safeguards being put in place by New York Judge Juan Merchan to shield the identities of the jurors is not only a rare move but one that is based on protecting against the potential tampering efforts that could come to them in Trump's first criminal case that is slated to begin on March 25.

According to former prosecutor Glenn Kirchner's read, the judge is attempting to prevent something sinister.

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"Anytime you have a case with a particularly dangerous defendant such that jurors may be at risk just as witnesses may be at risk just as with Donald Trump — we've seen that judges and their staff members are at risk, prosecutors and their team members are at risk — everyone is at risk if they are involved in the endeavor of trying to hold Donald Trump accountable for his crimes."

He stressed that part of the calculus is to not let the jurors think that "they might be at risk."

"Because they are sitting in judgment of an especially dangerous defendant that's a reality in the prosecutions against Donald Trump," he said. "But there is a risk that the jurors might start to decide the case based on their own security concerns rather than based only on the evidence."

This week, Merchan, who is considering prosecutors' request for a partial gag order, ruled to deploy extra protections with the jury in the case against the 45th president because of "a likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment of juror(s)."

The defense attorneys requested and were granted a request that if any of the jurors ask about the reasons for the extraordinary measures of obscurity, they are to be given "neutral explanations" in order to "minimize potential prejudice" to their client.

"In other words, kind of hide the true nature of why the judge feels compelled that he has to protect the jurors by keeping their identities shielded keeping them under wraps," Kirschner observed.

Trump is defending himself against a 34-count felony indictment involving falsifying business records related to hush money payments orchestrated by his former fixer and private attorney Michael Cohen pay adult film star Stormy Daniels in the waning weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Merchan already sentenced Trump’s former CFO Allen Weisselberg to prison, and presided over both the Trump Organization tax fraud trial as well as former adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal fraud case.

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