Senate Bill 4572, which the state Senate already has passed and Gov. Andrew Cuomo supports, does not mention Donald Trump by name, but it is aimed at making sure that his cronies can still be prosecuted under state law if he pardons them or commutes their sentences.
The high-minded rationale for S.B. 4572 is that a president should not be able to suppress damaging information that might emerge from state prosecution of former underlings by pardoning them for federal offenses that are also criminal under New York law.
In a case the Court is considering right now, a man convicted of illegal gun possession under both state and federal law is asking the justices to revisit that dubious doctrine, which allows double punishment for the same crime and new prosecutions of defendants who have been acquitted.
New York's law says "a person may not be twice prosecuted for the same offense" and "a person may not be separately prosecuted for two offenses based upon the same act or criminal transaction." There are exceptions to that rule, but none of them covers self-protecting pardons by Donald Trump.
Why throw everyone connected to Trump under the bus if state prosecutions are allowed in cases where it can be shown that a pardon or commutation helped him avoid civil or criminal liability? The breadth of the new exception makes sense if it is a cudgel to beat Trump allies, less so if it is all about preventing him from "Using the pardon power in a corrupt way to undermine the rule of law."
Under this bill, New York could prosecute him again for the same conduct even without making that showing if Trump decides to pardon him or commute his sentence.
Trump could still use his clemency power to help such a person, but that would not stop New York prosecutors from trying him again for the same conduct, assuming they can find a state law that applies.
https://reason.com/2019/05/22/new-york-legislators-approve-double-jeopardy-for-trump-cronies-to-protect-the-rule-of-law/
The high-minded rationale for S.B. 4572 is that a president should not be able to suppress damaging information that might emerge from state prosecution of former underlings by pardoning them for federal offenses that are also criminal under New York law.
In a case the Court is considering right now, a man convicted of illegal gun possession under both state and federal law is asking the justices to revisit that dubious doctrine, which allows double punishment for the same crime and new prosecutions of defendants who have been acquitted.
New York's law says "a person may not be twice prosecuted for the same offense" and "a person may not be separately prosecuted for two offenses based upon the same act or criminal transaction." There are exceptions to that rule, but none of them covers self-protecting pardons by Donald Trump.
Why throw everyone connected to Trump under the bus if state prosecutions are allowed in cases where it can be shown that a pardon or commutation helped him avoid civil or criminal liability? The breadth of the new exception makes sense if it is a cudgel to beat Trump allies, less so if it is all about preventing him from "Using the pardon power in a corrupt way to undermine the rule of law."
Under this bill, New York could prosecute him again for the same conduct even without making that showing if Trump decides to pardon him or commute his sentence.
Trump could still use his clemency power to help such a person, but that would not stop New York prosecutors from trying him again for the same conduct, assuming they can find a state law that applies.
https://reason.com/2019/05/22/new-york-legislators-approve-double-jeopardy-for-trump-cronies-to-protect-the-rule-of-law/
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