Trump files 500-page lawsuit against judge, Manhattan DA in bid to halt hush money sentencing
Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump’s legal blitz to halt his sentencing in his criminal hush money case in New York continued Tuesday morning with his lawyers filing a 502-page lawsuit against Judge Juan Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump’s lawyers asked a New York appeals court to stop the proceedings in the president-elect’s hush money case — including his Jan. 10 sentencing — and to dismiss his conviction outright based on a claim of presidential immunity.
“Justice Merchan’s erroneous decisions threaten the institution of the Presidency and run squarely against established precedent disallowing any criminal process against a President-Elect, as well as prohibiting the use of evidence of a President’s official acts against him in a criminal proceeding,” the filing argued.
Defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove claimed that Trump’s “undisputed absolute immunity” extends to his time as president-elect — an argument that Judge Merchan roundly denied last week.
The lawyers also claimed that the jury’s verdict was “erroneous” because they saw evidence related to official acts.
“President Trump brings this Article 78 proceeding to redress the serious and continuing infringement on his Presidential immunity from criminal process that he holds as the 45th and soon-to-be 47th President of the United States of America,” the filing said.
Trump 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.
The president-elected faces up to four years in prison, but Merchan last week indicated that he would sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge — effectively a blemish on Trump’s record, without prison, fines or probation — saying that would strike a balance between the duties of president and the sanctity of the jury’s verdict.
(NEW YORK) — Melissa Lucio, the death row inmate who was convicted of capital murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, is speaking out in an exclusive statement and audio recording to ABC News for the first time since a judge found last month that the Texas mother who has been behind bars for nearly 17 years is “actually innocent.”
“More than words. There are truly no amount of words, no matter how eloquently spoken, that can begin to convey the thanks I feel in this moment,” Lucio said in a statement and audio recording that was shared Tuesday exclusively with ABC News by Lucio’s close friend, filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel. “I want to thank everyone that has fought so hard. Not just for me, but more importantly for Mariah’s memory.”
Van Tassel’s 2020 Hulu documentary, “The State of Texas vs. Melissa,” propelled Lucio’s case to the national spotlight ahead of a scheduled April 2022 execution that was delayed amid public pressure for the court to review her case.
In a 62-page ruling that was signed on Oct. 16, 2024, and reviewed by ABC News, Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson recommended that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned in the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah.
The judge found that prosecutors suppressed evidence and testimony – including statements from Lucio’s other children – that could support the argument that Lucio was not abusive and that her daughter’s death was accidental after a fall down the stairs.
“This Court finds (Lucio) has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder,” Nelson wrote.
“(T)his Court concludes there is clear and convincing evidence that no rational juror could convict Applicant of capital murder or any lesser included offense,” Nelson added.
“It is safe to say I find myself still in shock and awe of everything that has transpired this past week,” Lucio said in the statement, reflecting on the judge’s recommendation.
“But this story began long before this moment and I want to thank each and every person who has played such a significant part, and not only bringing the truth to light, but fighting so very hard to do so,” she added, proceeding to thank her supporters for being instrumental in getting her execution delayed in 2022 as the court reviews her case.
Lucio thanked her attorneys at the Innocence Project, the coordinator of the “Free Melissa Lucio” campaign, Abraham Bonowitz, and namely, Van Tassel, who Lucio credits with bringing attention to her story through the documentary.
In her statement to ABC News, Lucio recounted the first time she met Van Tassel, who was working on a story about women on death row when Lucio agreed to an interview with her, and said that she “felt led” to speak to her.
“Without her tireless dedication to me and my cause, I do not believe I would be alive today. She brought worldwide attention to the system that has been sweeping issues like mine under the proverbial rug for decades and getting away with it,” she added, reflecting on the 2020 documentary.
Amid growing calls for the court to review her case in 2022, Lucio was granted a stay of her scheduled April 27, 2022, execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 25, 2022 – after nearly 15 years on death row.
In an exclusive statement to ABC News, Van Tassel said that in the wake of the judge’s ruling, “there is real hope that her death sentence could be overturned, paving the way for Melissa Lucio to finally walk free.”
“This possibility exceeds all my expectations, and I pray for the day we can finally hold each other in our arms,” she said.
The judge’s recommendation was sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for review.
ABC News reached out to the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted this case, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said in a statement last week that “After 16 years on death row, it’s time for the nightmare to end. Melissa should be home right now with her children and grandchildren.”
(NEW YORK) — The 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade may be an attractive target for both foreign and domestic terroristic violence, according to a joint threat assessment obtained by ABC News.
Among the most significant threats facing the nation’s largest Thanksgiving celebration “stems from lone offenders and small groups of individuals seeking to commit acts of violence,” according to the report put out by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and New York Police Department.
There is not a “specific, actionable threat,” but the document raises a particular concern about vehicle ramming, which “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors” looking to target crowded pedestrian areas. The NYPD will have sanitation trucks and other so-called “blocker vehicles” deployed along the route, the report states.
The 98th annual parade steps off at 8:30 a.m. on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and proceeds along a 2 1/2-mile route toward Herald Square.
The parade is expected to draw 2 million spectators and 10,000 participants.
There are 17 featured character balloons, 22 floats, 15 heritage and novelty balloons, more than 700 clowns, 11 marching bands, 10 performance groups and, of course, Santa Claus to close it out. There are six new featured character balloons, including Disney’s Minnie Mouse and Marvel’s Spider-Man.
“Though the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade event will provide a broad set of potential soft targets for an attack, congested areas where the largest amount of people gather — particularly designated viewing areas — are likely the most vulnerable spots for a mass casualty attack,” the assessment said.
After pro-Palestinian protesters glued their hands to the pavement along the parade route last year, law enforcement agencies said they “remain concerned that malicious actors may seek to engage in public safety disruptions, including attempting to block ingress and egress paths and roadways around the event and major transportation locations.”
(PHOENIX) — A number of ballots were damaged after a United States Post Office collection mailbox was lit on fire in Phoenix, police said.
An unknown individual lit a fire inside a drive-up collection mailbox at a USPS station early Thursday morning, according to the Phoenix Police Department, which said it responded to the scene at 1:20 a.m.
The Phoenix Fire Department was able to open the mailbox and extinguish the fire and the Postal Inspector took possession of the damaged ballots and miscellaneous mail, police said.
Phoenix police initially said that approximately 20 electoral ballots were damaged, though the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office later said it believes the fire only destroyed five ballots while warning that the final figure could still change.
The Phoenix Fire Investigations Task Force — which includes police detectives and fire investigators — is working with U.S. Postal Inspectors on the investigation, police said.
“I’m deeply troubled by the arson attack on a USPS collection box in Phoenix,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said in a statement. “This deliberate act of vandalism undermines the integrity of our democratic process.”
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said in a statement Thursday that officials are “waiting for details from law enforcement” regarding the incident.
Voters who used that mailbox in the last 36 hours can check the status of their ballots here, with an update on successful delivery usually reflected within 72 hours, he said.
The last day for registered voters to request an early ballot for the election in the battleground state is Friday.
“If a voter believes they were impacted by this incident they can learn more about how to make that request at Request.Maricopa.Vote,” Richer said.
Unlike USPS mailboxes, county ballot drop boxes across Arizona have fire suppression equipment, according to Fontes.
“One of the things that we have done in my office, for the drop boxes across the counties, is make sure that they have fire suppression equipment inside of those drop boxes,” Fontes said during a Zoom call with election officials on Thursday. “Unfortunately, the United States Postal Service doesn’t have that.”
