Avenatti Gets Mistrial #shorts

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Sorry, occupational hazard: This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney-client relationship. Also, some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. But if you click, it really helps me make more of these videos! All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

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[harmagedom]

This reminds me of all the times people has complained to me (a Judicial Officer in Brazil) about how the judicial system is always letting bad people off the hook on "technicalities". To which I reply that, first, it doesn't matter if you're guilt or innocent, RIGHTS aren't "technicalities", and second, maybe if cops, prosecutors, and other government employees did their jobs right before trial, that wouldn't happen.

[EvilSandwich]

Between this and the Cosby trial screw up, prosecutors need to stop forgetting that even scumbags have rights. And trying to work around them because of overzealousness is just going to blow up in their face and rightfully so.

The judge was 100% correct to declare a mistrial here. Because if the judge didn't, it would have set a horrifyingly terrible precedent.

[daniela_k_]

I wonder how many people still sitting in jail have had this (prosecutors withholding evidence) happen to them but didn’t have the resources to do anything about it? Errors like this continue to make our whole justice system look like a joke.

[SaintDaisley]

"We don't think the data is relevant."
"You don't get to decide that, fucko."

[SsnakeBite]

Why, oh why are there so many lawyers who think they'll get away with withholding evidence? You'd think lawyers of all people would understand how a trial works.

[Atlazuko]

and once again we have the discussion that yes, he is a bad person. but he is still a person and people have rights. and we can't disregard those rights just because we don't like him.

however i am very glad that he's not getting off scot free because of it.

[JasonFightsCrime]

It's so much easier when you turn over the whole file to the defense. Unless you have information about a snitch's identity or child porn, give it all to the defense even if it isn't subject to discovery. Every prosecutor's office that I've worked in did it that way. It made things much easier.

[ThatOneStopSign]

For anyone confused the judge didn't do this out of bias, he did it to set a precedent to uphold the rights of EVERY citizens for a fair trial. Remember, it is better for a guilty person to walk free than it is for an innocent person to be convicted and punished for a crime they never committed. That is the price that is paid in order for fair justice to be upheld.

[ghostderazgriz]

They didn't share the document because they thought "Eh, probably not important"?

Oh U.S Government, what are you like

[karllewis]

So, as a practical matter, "I was keeping two sets of books", isn't what most lawyers would call a great defense. This does serve to delay the trial and the ultimate sentencing... but, that's a technique far more useful in civil procedures than in criminal ones. If the U.S. Government wants you, unless you're IBM... you haven't got the resources to out last 'em.

[kkiimm]

The problem with technicalities is that it feels like it's mainly only people with lots of money to hire a good defense that gets to benefit from them. Technicalities is the rich people's get out of jail card.

[jaiclary]

Objection! A mistrial sometimes means the person gets off "scot-free, " as there's no guarantee or obligation for the government to try again. Also, does it matter that this mistrial occurred because of prosecutorial misconduct?

[Safinitzine]

Turns out representing himself was the right move after all...

[UltimateChaos]

Hey LegalEagle, when are you going to cover the Texas abortion Law and the SC ruling?

[CaptainKent]

Instead of these multi short bits, how about a weekly legal news video. A 5-10 minute video with all the juicy legal news we crave. I'm just not a fan of thses youtube shorts.

[loganl]

"Technically correct! The best kind of correct."

[jkn]

Judge didn't think the prosecutor did anything wrong, but agreed that the government withheld evidence and declared a mistrial. The government was cutting corners and got caught.

[CaptLoquaLacon]

OBJECTION: Devin - not sure if you'll see this comment, but it feels incredibly odd that the prosecutors wouldn't consider the information important, but it was still presented to the court. Is that as contradictory a position as it sounds like on first glance? or is the question of what is considered important more nuanced than that?

[WolfWalrus]

In cop shows, criminal defence attorneys are always depicted as the villains, sleazy bad guys without any scruples.
But in reality (in an ideal world at least) the role of a defence attorney is to make sure that the burden of proof is met by the prosecution, to make sure they're doing their job right. In a world without criminal defence attorneys, prosecutors could get away with trampling all over due process and have people punished far more harshly than they deserve

[rayzawn]

The immediate outcome sucks, but it keeps the courts in line. People who complain literally can't imagine how much they would want these protections if they were falsely accused.