He was issued a gag order due to public criticism of witnesses and the effect it may have on their credibility. The 10 violations were addressed at two gag order hearings. At the first hearing he was fined the maximum. At the second, he was fined the maximum and warned of jail for the next offense.
This is exactly how an impartial judge should be ruling.
He was informed of the potential repercussions in the first hearing. It was the second of two hearings when Merchan said while he was reluctant to put a former president in jail, but continued acts would leave him no choice. That was the end of the violations.
The goal of the gag order is to mandate compliance, not leverage a holding cell. Again, Merchan handled it by the book.
I’d love to see him in jail, or better yet, prison, but it’s not worth compromising the judges ruling into bias.
He was issued a gag order due to public criticism of witnesses and the effect it may have on their credibility. The 10 violations were addressed at two gag order hearings. At the first hearing he was fined the maximum. At the second, he was fined the maximum and warned of jail for the next offense.
This is exactly how an impartial judge should be ruling.
He warned about jail the first time. Two separate warnings for 10 incidents is lenient.
He was informed of the potential repercussions in the first hearing. It was the second of two hearings when Merchan said while he was reluctant to put a former president in jail, but continued acts would leave him no choice. That was the end of the violations.
The goal of the gag order is to mandate compliance, not leverage a holding cell. Again, Merchan handled it by the book.
I’d love to see him in jail, or better yet, prison, but it’s not worth compromising the judges ruling into bias.
He was biased to not put him in jail.
Sentencing is based on character and severity of crime. Being a former President speaks favorably in court. It’s not about money or influence.
Guess we just took the long road back to kings.