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The New York State Court of Appeals rejected the Manhattan District Attorney’s proposal to lay criminal charges against Paul Manafort after being pardoned by then-President Donald Trump.
Chief Justice Janet DiFiore’s ruling came out quietly last Thursday and has proven to be the blow to DA Cyrus Vance’s efforts to try Trump’s former campaign chairman. The case was dismissed by the Manhattan Supreme Court after the judge sided with the double jeopardy defense argument and subsequent appeals courts upheld the ruling.
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Manafort’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, was delighted with the final decision.
“As the trial court ruled, and the Appeal Division asserted, the arguments of the people ‘fall a long way’ from triggering a dual criminality exception that would justify this prosecution,” Blanche said. “We are pleased that the New York Court of Appeals saw no reason to allow the district attorney to appeal the well-reasoned earlier decision dismissing the indictment and the opinion of the Appeal Division. confirming the same. ”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
Vance indicted Manafort in March 2019 when he was already serving 7.5 years in federal prison for breaking campaign finance laws. Manafort’s 2018 trial was led by prosecutors for Justice Department special advocate Robert Mueller. But the state’s charges would fall outside its jurisdiction, so the Manhattan district attorney charged Manafort with similar fraud crimes. By December 2019, a New York State Supreme Court judge would join Manafort’s defense by granting his motion to dismiss the case on dual criminality grounds.
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The dual criminality clause in the US Constitution prevents an accused from being prosecuted twice for the same crime.
“In view of the rather unique set of facts relating to the defendant’s previous lawsuits in federal court, and in view of New York law on this matter, the defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment as prohibited state dual criminality must be granted, ”Judge Maxwell Wiley justified his ruling at the time.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently passed a law that opened a state loophole in this presumption, allowing state prosecutors to press charges on similar charges even if the defendants receive federal pardons, but it was not in time to ask Manafort.
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In a somewhat similar situation is the former Trump administration’s chief White House strategist, Stephen Bannon. The former political agent, who was also pardoned by Trump on federal charges, is now under investigation by Vance’s office, according to a recent report from Washington. However, if indicted, Bannon will not be so lucky as Manafort since he never was. tried or convicted by a court.
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