WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge in Florida presiding over the classified documents prosecution of former President Donald Trump has canceled the May 20 trial date, postponing it indefinitely.

  • xkforce@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Civil trial consequences are always only monetary - you can’t go to prison for a civil case. That’s part of why civil cases get away with having a much lower standard of evidence

    Which is exactly why I mentioned it. He has never faced consequences from criminal charges, only civil court.

    You’ll notice he started hawking Bibles almost immediately afterward, likely because he needs more liquid funding in the short term.

    He would have done that regardless of whether he “needed” funds or not. Like most obscenely rich people, there is no such thing as “enough” wealth.

    I believe he’s been fined for it several times now, but the fine is set by law and is an amount that’s a pittance to Trump.

    Which doesn’t really contradict my point that he effectively hasn’t faced any real consequences.

    you’ve still got to figure out how to work his Secret Service detail into the picture.

    He’s a criminal. He shouldn’t be afforded the same security detail as his predecessors that weren’t. We don’t “have to” do anything. It was just decided as a society that this man, and others like him, should be given privileges that others don’t have.

    And also the protests from his cult if/when that happens.

    This should never ever ever factor into what his punishment is. A functioning society needs a justice system that doesn’t cave to mobs.

    Everything about this is abhorrant.

    • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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      6 months ago

      Which is exactly why I mentioned it. He has never faced consequences from criminal charges, only civil court.

      You don’t face consequences from criminal charges until you are convicted, which hasn’t happened yet. Or someone is trying to make an example of you ala Kevin Mitnick.

      He would have done that regardless of whether he “needed” funds or not. Like most obscenely rich people, there is no such thing as “enough” wealth.

      I mean yeah, he’s absurdly rich and greedy but I don’t think he would have gone the route of Bible salesman like that if he wasn’t pinched for funds. Or he would have back when he posed for that photo of him holding the Bible upside down. It’s not a coincidence that the Bible sale started less than 48 hours from the bond being reduced.

      Which doesn’t really contradict my point that he effectively hasn’t faced any real consequences.

      He hasn’t been convicted of a crime yet. Until he is, he’s not going to prison. That’s pretty fundamental to how the criminal justice system works. He’s got damages levied against him that he’s going to challenge and probably have reduced some (that’s how it often goes), and had to put up $175M as a bond that will immediately go towards said damages after his appeal.

      He’s a criminal. He shouldn’t be afforded the same security detail as his predecessors that weren’t. We don’t “have to” do anything. It was just decided as a society that this man, and others like him, should be given privileges that others don’t have.

      You’d have to legally revoke his security detail, and even then you probably don’t want to - as a former President he’s a valuable asset because of what he might know despite his seemingly poor retention. As well as the sway he has over his cult. You ideally want to imprison him separate from all other prisoners with his security detail living on site if possible. I’ve said before the easiest way to make that happen is to convert the SHU at a medium-large prison into a sort of “Presidential suite” to house Trump and his security detail. No one else enters or leaves the unit, anything going in or out goes through both prison security and SS security.

      It’s a side bonus that it prevents inmates from being thrown in solitary at the same time. And a proper prison is easier to defend from “protesters” than most jails are, and which prison he is sent to should take the possibility of an attack by right wing nutters into consideration.

      This should never ever ever factor into what his punishment is. A functioning society needs a justice system that doesn’t cave to mobs.

      It does, but only because you have to plan around it happening. Most jails aren’t really set up to deal with that sort of thing, and contempt sends you to jail, not prison. So you have to figure out how to do that without causing a bunch of innocent people to be injured or killed as a consequence. Ideally before you put him in the jail. And where to send the people you’d normally jail there, because he’s going to take up excessive space for the same security-related reasons he will in prison.