Trump's bid to move the location of his hush money trial was rejected by the New York appeals court after six weeks.
A short ruling came out yesterday, declaring the rejection of Trump's appeal with no additional clarification. This happened on the same day as the announcement that summations are scheduled for next Tuesday during the seventh week of his trial, which pertains to an estimated hush money scam before the 2016 elections.
The lawyers for Trump submitted their appeal during the final days of jury selection last month, and it took the expected amount of time to complete the normal judicial review process. This is one of two Trump motions that were declined by the appeals courts on Thursday.
The refusal of these motions concludes the Trump appeals that were a significant part of his strategic attempts to delay the trial's commencement. Previously, all of these emergency requests were turned down by the court, and since then, all appeals related to the trial's actual issues have been rejected as well.
The Manhattan criminal trial has now entered its final phase with both the prosecution and Trump's defense resting their cases. The jury is due to hear closing arguments on Tuesday following a weekend break in honor of Memorial Day.
A single judge from the appellate court denied Trump's plea to cease the trial before it continued, during an urgent session held right before finalizing the jury panel. Trump's lawyer, Cliff Roberts, asserted that selecting a jury swiftly, after numerous prospective jurors were dismissed due to evident bias, was "unsustainable." However, the attorney representing the Manhattan District Attorney countered by stating that the thorough jury screening conducted illustrated "jury selection has functioned."
Trump had previously made the same request for a delay while contesting the venue change, and restated it once jury selection concluded. He argued there were signs of bias in the candidate pool.
A different panel from the appeals court refused another outstanding appeal presented by Trump's attorneys that argued against Judge Juan Merchan's pretrial rulings regarding his recusal, filing procedures, and presidential immunity.
Five days before the trial commenced, Trump's lawyers tried to persuade the appeals court to delay the trial since they were waiting for a decision on these concerns. They lost this case during an emergency hearing on the 10th of April. Their petition is now officially dismissed.
The panel's decision on Thursday found that Trump's legal arguments failed to present enough evidence to merit intervention from the appellate court at this point. Trump can request the appeals court to assess these matters in a direct appeal after the trial concludes, according to the ruling.
"Intervening at this stage would not be appropriate, as it would disrupt the typical trial and appellate processes, and without expressing an opinion about the merits, the concerns introduced by the petitioner may be raised in a direct appeal." [The End]
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Source: edition.cnn.com
