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Opinion | What Makes Jack Smith’s New Trump Indictment So Smart
(www.nytimes.com)
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this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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I mean, yes. It's harder to make charges stick to people who can afford expensive defense attorneys. Add in the inevitable political ramifications of these particular charges, and you can see why it was critical to take the time to get this right. And they managed it in only 2.5 years. Absolute light speed under the circumstances
Certainly, and I'd much rather that the prosecutors and investigators make an iron-clad case than rush it and bungle something that lets the defense cry foul.
I was just commenting mostly so that we all remember that even though Trump seems to be getting a tiny bit of the comeuppance he deserves, we can't lose track of the fact that there are still two different legal systems. And we need to stay mad about the fact that which justice system a suspect ends up in is based almost entirely on the suspect's skin color and perceived wealth.
Living perpetually in a state of barely contained rage might not be the healthiest choice, but it's certainly one that keeps me motivated to do everything I can to change the existing system.
Yeah, I try to reach first for the easiest, high-impact reforms: End cash bail NOW. End the imprisonment of people who can't pay fines.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/ending-cash-bail/
https://eji.org/projects/fees-and-fines/
If this was "light speed", how long "should" it have taken? 200 years?
There's no "should," there's just how it is. Watergate took this long just to get to impeachment, and there was no federal criminal investigation into Nixon to go along with it:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/complete-watergate-timeline-took-longer-realize
Watergate only ended Nixon's presidential viability because Republicans still had some vague sense of shame at the time. Now they don't. If you want ironclad criminal charges, the investigation requires time.
If there is no standard pace, how can it be light speed? I think you undermine your point by stating this was really fast. To the layperson it absolutely isn't. And apparently to lawyers, it takes as long as it takes.
It's just difficult to find succinct sources that provide that data. Justice Department investigations tend to be years in length even when they don't involve a former President of the United States.
I think the layperson might confuse all criminal investigations with ones prosecuted by the DOJ when most crimes are actually prosecuted by state officials, not the DOJ. DOJ always moves way slower, always has.
Links below are not hard data, but it is statements from people with experience in the process:
"A Federal investigation can last upwards of 5 years due to most Federal Statute of Limitations prohibiting the Government from charging or indicting someone after that time period. It is not unusual to see an indictment that lists dates of offenses 3-5 years prior to an arrest."
https://thetampacriminallawyer.com/how-long-can-a-federal-investigation-last/
https://www.la-criminaldefense.com/why-do-federal-criminal-investigations-take-longer-than-state-investigations