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Paul Manafort case doesn’t violate double jeopardy: state prosecutors
[NYPOST] The Manhattan DA’s mortgage fraud case against President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, doesn’t violate double-jeopardy laws and shouldn’t be tossed, prosecutors argued in court papers Wednesday.Manafort’s lawyers want the case dropped, arguing he already faced charges for the same conduct in two federal indictments. But state prosecutors contend in the papers that although the underlying conduct is the same for the state and federal charges, several exceptions outlined in the double-jeopardy law apply that permit the overlap in prosecution. “The People’s prosecution is exactly the type of prosecution that New York’s double jeopardy statute explicitly permits: a successive prosecution where the harms caused to New York were not redressed by the prior prosecution,” wrote Assistant DAs Sean Pippen, Lisa White, James Graham and Christopher Conroy. For instance, they said, a federal trial in one of Manafort’s cases ended Aug. 21, 2018, with a jury largely hung on the counts related to his crimes in New York, and a judge declared a mistrial on those counts. For those charges, a second prosecution is permitted, they said. Another exception to double jeopardy, they argued, is that residential mortgage fraud and falsifying business records are state and not federal crimes, with different legal elements. Related: Paul Manafort: 2019-10-08 PROOF: Audio, email evidence shows DNC colluded with Ukraine to take down Trump in 2016 Paul Manafort: 2019-09-30 Ukraine Holds More Surprises for Biden Paul Manafort: 2019-09-29 NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Blasts Impeachment Push, Blames Leftists Posted by: Fred 2019-10-10 |
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