(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump’s impending inauguration as the next president does not impact his $454 million civil fraud judgment, a lawyer for New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a letter to the president-elect’s lawyer Tuesday.
Trump and his adult sons liable owe approximately $490 million including interest in their civil fraud case after a judge ruled last year that they repeatedly inflated Trump’s net worth to secure better loan terms over a decade of business dealings. Trump has appealed the ruling.
Because presidents do not have immunity from civil litigation, James plans to continue defending her judgment against Trump during his appeal of the case, the letter said.
“The ordinary burdens of civil litigation do not impede the President’s official duties in a way that violates the U.S. Constitution,” New York Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale wrote in a letter to D. John Sauer, Trump’s appellate lawyer and nominee for solicitor general.
Last month, Sauer requested that James drop her civil case against Trump to “cure” partisan divides and improve “the health of our Republic.”
“In the aftermath of his historic election victory, President Trump has called for our Nation’s partisan strife to end, and for the contending factions to join forces for the greater good of the country. This call for unity extends to the legal onslaught against him and his family that permeated the most recent election cycle,” Sauer wrote, citing the recent dismissal of Trump federal election interference and classified documents cases.
Vale rejected the request, saying in her letter that there is “no merit to your claim that the pendency of defendants’ own appeal will impede Mr. Trump’s official duties as President.”
Because the New York attorney general’s case is civil, James faces no restriction in continuing to pursue her case as Trump returns to the White House.
“Accordingly, the various actions taken by the Special Counsel’s office or the District Attorney’s Office of New York County in the respective criminal cases brought by those offices against Mr. Trump are irrelevant here,” Vale’s letter said.
A ruling on Trump’s appeal of the judgment could come at any time.
(NEW YORK) — A New York judge on Monday vacated the conviction and dismissed the case against Jon-Adrian Velazquez, who spent more than 20 years in prison for a murder prosecutors now say he did not commit.
“Who am I? I’m a very lucky man. I’m lucky that so many people believed in me,” Velazquez, 48, who was formally released in 2021, said outside of the court.
According to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg’s office, two individuals committed a robbery of a gambling parlor on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem on Jan. 27, 1998. During the robbery, retired police detective Albert Ward pulled a gun and a struggle ensued with one of the armed robbers, who identified himself as “Tee.”
“Tee” shot and killed Ward, according to Bragg’s office.
The then-22-year-old Velazquez was arrested, along with Derry Daniels, and convicted for Ward’s murder at trial in 1999. He served more than 23 years in prison until his sentence was commuted in 2021. On Sept. 30, 1999, over 18 months after he was arrested, Daniels pleaded guilty to a single count of robbery in the second degree and was sentenced to 12 years in prison as a repeat felon, according to his attorneys. Daniels was released in 2008.
In 2022, the city’s Post-Conviction Justice Unit compared Velazquez’s DNA to a betting slip that “Tee” handled before shooting Ward. Velazquez’s DNA was not found on the slip. This type of DNA comparison was not available at the time of Velazquez’s trial in 1999.
According to Bragg’s office, the reinvestigation into Ward’s murder found that the DNA testing results could have impacted the jury’s consideration of other trial evidence, including Velazquez’s alibi, the lack of evidence connecting him to the crime and inconsistent witness descriptions.
Velazquez was granted clemency in 2021 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and spoke with President Joe Biden as an activist for criminal justice reform.
His case is featured in the 2023 movie, “Sing Sing,” named for the prison, about a wrongfully imprisoned man who “finds purpose by acting in a theatre group with other incarcerated men,” according to A24.
“JJ Velazquez has lived in the shadow of his conviction for more than 25 years, and I hope that today brings with it a new chapter for him,” Bragg said in a statement. The reinvestigation was conducted by the Office’s Post-Conviction Justice Unit and defense counsel for Velazquez.
The creation of the Post-Conviction Justice Unit in 2022 has led to 10 vacated convictions, Bragg said.
“These convictions have deep consequences for individuals and their loved ones, compromise public safety and undermine trust in the criminal justice system, which is why this work is of the utmost importance to me,” Bragg said.
(NEW YORK) — New York Judge Juan Merchan has delayed President-elect Donald Trump’s Nov. 26 sentencing date in his criminal hush money case, according to a brief order issued Friday.
The judge is allowing the defense to file a motion to dismiss the case, which he said is due by Dec. 2.
The judge provided no new sentencing date after adjourning the original Nov. 26 date.
Trump was scheduled to be sentenced next week after he was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Judge Merchan’s order also puts off any decision about whether the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity decision applies to the case.
While the $130,000 payment to Daniels preceded Trump’s ascension to the presidency, Trump has claimed that prosecutors filled “glaring holes in their case” with evidence that related to official acts he subsequently performed in office — which the Supreme Court ruled are off limits in its July ruling on presidential immunity.
Prosecutors have argued that the case centers on “entirely personal” conduct with “no relationship whatsoever to any official duty of the presidency.”
Trump has asked that the verdict be overturned or the case be thrown out entirely. If Judge Merchan tosses the conviction, he could order a new trial — which would be delayed for at least four years until Trump leaves office — or dismiss the indictment altogether.
Trump’s conviction carries a penalty of up to four years in prison, though first-time offenders normally receive lesser sentences.
