NEW YORK: A prison sentence remains one of the possible outcomes of former president Donald Trump’s legal woes because juries are people and not computers, his former attorney Joe Tacopina told Sputnik.
“So, you have to not exclude the possibility that there will be conviction in one of these cases and with that comes potential punishment, including jail time, but that’s a possibility,“ Tacopina said in an interview.
“I’m not saying it’s likely to happen or not likely to happen. It’s just a possibility... It’s not computer science. It’s people, and people have to come together to make a decision.”
Tacopina noted that multiple factors can influence the way a jury member votes, including personal issues, animus or bias, making it difficult to predict the outcome of any case.
He also pointed out that three of the four criminal cases against Trump are taking place in predominantly Democrat cities, and these politically unfavourable venues further add to the uncertainty in these cases.
Trump is facing felony counts in Washington, Atlanta, New York and Fort Pierce, Florida. Of these four cities, only Fort Pierce has more registered Republicans than Democrats.
Tacopina withdrew from Trump’s legal team on Jan 15. He had represented Trump in a criminal case in Manhattan and in an appeal of the verdict in a lawsuit put forward by writer E. Jean Carroll. A jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, and ordered him to pay her US$5 million.
Overall, Trump faces a total of 91 charges in four criminal cases, which Republican politicians had called it an attempt by the Democratic establishment to prevent him from returning to the White House. The most serious charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison. If sentences are imposed consecutively rather than concurrently, he could end up facing more than 700 years in prison.
Tacopina is described as one of the most accomplished trial lawyers, with a long list of criminal case victories, representing, among others, former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, Fox News star Sean Hannity and Rihanna’s husband rapper A$AP Rocky.–Bernama-Sputnik
