Latest Twitter Threads by @JoyceWhiteVance on Thread Reader App

May 3 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

1/ One tactical hurdle lawyers deal with at trial is that they can't explain the significance of the testimony they’re eliciting while questioning witnesses. The lawyers can't testify, only witnesses. So there’s no introduction where the lawyer can tell the jury why they’re calling a witness & how their testimony helps. 2/ The lawyers put the pieces of the puzzle together for jurors in closing argument. While they’re taking testimony, they’re noting key points from each witness that they’ll focus on when they argue their case.

Apr 30 • 9 tweets • 2 min read

1/ In court this morning Judge Merchan says Trump can attend his son's graduation and then slaps him with fines for contempt on 9 of 10 violations prosecutors alleged. 2/ This casts Thursday's hearing on additional violations by Trump in a whole new light.

Apr 22 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

1/Opening statements explained: "The trial will start with opening statements from the lawyers. They are not permitted to argue their evidence at this point. Opening statements are for telling the jury what each side expects the evidence will show" open.substack.com/pub/joycevance…

2/Trump’s lawyers will have their work cut out for them as their demanding audience of one meets the rules & strictures of behavior in court. They won’t be able to make some of Trump’s wild arguments, both b/c they run afoul of what the rules permit AND very importantly..

Apr 6 • 4 tweets • 1 min read

1/This is an utterly astonishing message for a candidate for the presidency to embrace. And, just a clue, it's not about virtues.

It starts with a command-even if you can't stand Trump, you must get behind him.

Has any candidate ever run like that? It gets worse.

https://twitter.com/trumpdailyposts/status/1776713753876419039

2/GOP voters shouldn't care if he's a conservative, a role model for children, or modest & dignified--I suppose that's a good message because Trump is none of the things quite obviously.

The tone & pacing of the video carries an echo of WWII fascism that makes me feel queasy.

Apr 4 • 9 tweets • 3 min read

1/Judge Cannon has just denied Trump's motion to dismiss the classified documents case in Florida. Trump had argued the Presidential Records Act gave him the ability to designate classified material as personal records, shielding him from prosecution under the Espionage Act.

2/ In what looks, at least at first glance, like an effort at saving face, Judge Cannon also vigorously denies what she characterizes as the Special Counsel's request for a final decision on jury instructions.

Apr 3 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

Judge Cannon ducked ruling on Trump's motion to dismiss the classified documents case based on the Presidential Records Act, instead asking lawyers to submit jury instructions assuming it did. Special Counsel's Office isn't buying it.

2/That's because if the Judge doesn't rule ahead of trial she can dismiss the prosecution during trial & in that posture the government can't appeal because of double jeopardy. So it was clear they would have to force her hand at this point.

Mar 30 • 6 tweets • 2 min read

1/Imagine the impact Trump has on potential witnesses & jurors when he targets a Judge's daughter, a POTUS. If Trump can get away with that, then what protection do regular folks have if they take the witness stand against him or vote to convict? 2/Judges are obligated, to protect the integrity of the proceedings in their courtrooms. If Trump can slash & burn his way through the system, there is an enormous risk jurors & witnesses will be intimidated & turn away from their duty out of fear for their & loved ones’ safety.

Mar 29 • 8 tweets • 3 min read

1/On Tuesday, the Judge in the Manhattan DA’s criminal case against Trump entered a narrow, limited gag order against the former president. And it turns out that what it doesn’t prohibit is as important as what it does. nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/pre…

2/Trump can’t talk about witnesses or jurors. He can’t talk about court staff, the DA’s staff, or the staff of any of the lawyers. He can’t talk about the lawyers. The exception is that he can talk about the DA himself. The Judge and his family also remain fair game.

Mar 25 • 6 tweets • 3 min read

1/Last Monday, Trump’s lawyers told the court they had tried—and failed—to get a bond. They asked the court for a stay or an alternative to a full bond. They said “the court may consider ‘any relevant factor, including...any exigency or hardship confronting any party.’”

2/So what is the “exigency or hardship”? The Trump team claimed that despite “diligent efforts” "a bond in the judgment's full amount is ‘a practical impossibility.’" The wrote that
the bond requires "reserves approaching $1 billion … is unprecedented for a private company.”

Mar 24 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

1/There is immense Democratic pressure on NJ Senator Menendez to drop out & he seems to be saying he won't run again. But there's been no pressure from his party on Trump, who is now the nominee despite 4 criminal indictments & a massive judgment for engaging in business fraud.

https://twitter.com/TimOBrien/status/1771933583680106977

2/Also, two defamation judgments against him where a jury found he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll.

Sometimes it's important to take a step back & think about the things that we know & have watched happen. We stop really considering what they mean because they're so baked in.

Mar 18 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

1/Trump & some of his co-defendants have now asked Judge McAfee for permission to appeal his decision that Fani Willis can stay on the case.

2/For there to be an unusual interlocutory appeal—one that occurs before trial—requires approval from Judge McAfee, who has until Monday. If he blesses an appeal, it's still up to the court of appeals to decide if it wants to take the case.

Mar 14 • 4 tweets • 1 min read

1/In the Mar-a-Lago case, Judge Cannon will hear from the lawyers today on Trump’s motions to dismiss the prosecution based on the Presidential Records Act & “unconstitutional vagueness.” I've handled a lot of motions in criminal cases. These are barely better than frivolous. 2/Trump insists he designated the documents as personal records under the PRA so his possession of them was authorized & he can’t be prosecuted for it. But he's never been able to explain how the PRA trumps laws about handling classified & national defense info. It doesn't.

Mar 6 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

1/Tuesday, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg responded to Trump’s motions in limine, which are about what evidence the jury to consider when the case goes to trial on March 25. Trump wants to prevent the DA from making key arguments and offering evidence from important witnesses. 2/Trump wants to keep Michael Cohen from testifying. His reason? He doesn't think Cohen will be believable. But the whole point of a trial is letting a jury hear the evidence & decide where the truth lies. This is their decision to make, both the defendant's in a criminal case.

Mar 1 • 6 tweets • 1 min read

1/ In the Fulton County proceeding to disqualify (DQ) Fani Willis, the defendants arguing for DQ near the burden of proving that it's the judge should remove Willis from the case. What does that mean? 2/ It means that unless the evidence establishes a financial conflict of interest-that's the Georgia law standard for DQ--Willis should stay in the case. And the evidence doesn't establish a financial conflict on Willis' behalf, even if Wade bought her dinner a few times.

Mar 1 • 5 tweets • 1 min read

1/ Decisions about what evidence is admitted at trial is left to the discretion of the trial judge. For the classified documents case, that means Judge Cannon gets to decide what evidence Jack Smith can introduce. 2/Decisions against the gov't on evidence aren't subject to review on appeal if a defendant is acquitted. Once a jury is sworn in, double jeopardy attaches & a defendant who is acquitted can't be retried. If a judge excludes essential evidence & the jury acquits, that's it.

Feb 29 • 8 tweets • 2 min read

1/Yesterday, the Supreme Court told us that it will hear Trump's presidential immunity appeal. After sitting on the request for two and a half weeks, they've issued a brief grant of certiorari, scheduling argument for the week of April 22.

2/The case could have been handled more quickly, especially because the issue before the Court isn’t difficult: either presidents can commit crimes to stay in office or they can’t. The timeline here is a choice by the Justices that gives Trump at least two more months of delay.

Feb 22 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

1/I wrote about the Alabama Sup Ct decision holding couples could sue under a wrongful death statute for negligence in destroying embryos, frozen for use in IVF. The decision accepted the view that the embryos qualify as “lives.”

2/It took 5 days for UAB, a major university hospital, to shut down its IVF program. Although this case is only about civil liability under the Wrongful Death statute, it could be applied in other contexts, perhaps even extending to criminal prosecutions. nbcnews.com/health/health-…

Feb 1 • 7 tweets • 2 min read

1/While the House GOP refuses to move ahead with immigration legislation, Texas has stepped into the breach. TX wants to take over from the fed'l gov't & implement its own policy, even when it leads to migrants dying as they attempt to cross the border. cbp.gov/newsroom/natio… 2/The current immigration challenge by Governor Abbott is over Texas’s installation of razor wire along a 29-mile stretch of the border, preventing federal agents from access to the border near Eagle Pass, Texas. Bear with me on the legal quagmire that followed.

Jan 24 • 4 tweets • 1 min read

1/On July 31, 2018, I was driving through New Hampshire to drop our youngest kid off at camp. He was already feeling homesick so we stopped to get a nice last deli lunch. The TV was on Fox. Midway thru lunch, the chyron showed Justice Kennedy had just, unexpectedly, resigned. 2/It was such a gut punch because it meant Trump would get to reshape the SCOTUS majority. What hit even harder was how happy the people around me seemed to be. They were pro-Trump. By this point, it was well known Trump was separating families at the border.

Jan 22 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

1/ Fani Willis' lawyer made the point there's no need for her testimony because info about the Wade's finances is better obtained from the parties to the divorce. The Judge suspended her depo until he hears Wade's testimony. Increasingly, this looks like a political stunt.

https://twitter.com/tamarhallerman/status/1749475427360338101

2/ Michael Roman, the defendant who moved to dismiss his & Trump's prosecution because of Willis & Wade's alleged relationship is a long time GOP campaign operative whose past is worth underscoring. joycevance.substack.com/p/mike-roman-p…

Jan 20 • 8 tweets • 3 min read

1/Senators John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, and Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, cosponsored S. 3250, “An Act to provide remote access to court proceedings for victims of the 1988 Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.”

2/ S. 3250 was introduced in the Senate on 11/8/23 & passed by unanimous consent on 12/6. It cleared the House Thursday. Now it just needs President Biden’s signature. Once that happens, the bill, as they say, will become a law.

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