Donald Trump is currently facing four criminal indictments, two on federal charges and two on state charges, as well as at least a couple civil suits in New York. Assume Trump undergoes a Grinch experience that puts him in a state of utter penitence for no more than 24 hours, after which he reverts to his usual self.
Given that he’s such a high-profile defendant, is there any possible way he could ram through irrevocable plea deals/settlements for any or all of these cases in 24 hours? That is, assuming he doesn’t have a court date already scheduled on that day, can he just call up the prosecutor and judge and say, “I want to plead guilty, but only if I get to finalize it today?” (And what if that day is a Sunday or a public holiday?) And even if so, could he realistically withdraw or challenge the pleas/settlements the next day on the grounds that he changed his mind, or felt under duress, or some other story?
IANAL but I’m pretty sure the prosecution would have to agree the deal, and I doubt they would agree it without due and careful consideration even were they minded to accept a deal at all. So a 24-hour window would be a steep ask.
I don’t think it’s fighting the hypothetical to point out that even in this thought experiment, the judiciary and prosecution’s reaction to an offer of a plea deal, but only within 24 hours, would likely be an eye roll. “I’m not giving up my Sunday for more of this asshole’s nonsense.”
Unless in your hypothetical everyone else knows that Trump is penitent and sincere in his offer?
I mean, if the “deal” was “I unconditionally plead guilty on all charges and leave the sentencing details to the court”, I imagine that could move forward with great haste and celebration.
Everything depends on what Trump demands in exchange.
Defendant would have to appear in court for a plea hearing where he waives a number of constitutional rights. The logistics alone are daunting for making an appearance in 4 different courts in 3 different states. Then the judge has to show up, clerks, judge will want to make extra effort to make sure he’s competent and not temporarily rattled by the appearance of spectral phenomena.
Even in the simplest case I can’t see it happening.
I happen to know from Law and Order that this is absolutely doable. The usual progression?
In a dingy conference room the defense lawyer makes an absurdly lenient offer. The Assistant DA scoffs, gets up, saying, “Then we’ll see you in court.” The defense attorney then says, “Wait a minute…” and offers something a bit more reasonable. The ADA counteroffers something a bit more severe. The defense guy agrees.
The whole thing takes a minute or two. I’ve seen it hundreds of times.
Trump has no ability to ram through anything right now. If he gets re-elected he will pardon himself for federal crimes and have any state prosecutors arrested. Unless someone else is elected president next year who manages to actually get into office then Trump has no interest in a plea deal. Even then he won’t do it because he’ll never admit to any guilt.
Right. For the hypothetical to work at all, in this alternate universe everyone needs to believe that Trump is serious and will follow through. In this universe, the reaction is likelier to be “Yeah, I’m pretty busy today.”
My opinion is that the DOJ and the courts would love to do a plea deal, and they’d probably even agree to one with no jail time as long as Trump agreed not to run for public office again……sort of like how they handled Spiro Agnew’s indicted crimes.
But the “not running for President” would be the deal breaker, and his acolytes would scream. It’s just not on brand for Trump, it’s too close to something a normal politician would do.
There are three reasons for the court to agree to a plea deal: Either they want cooperation to nab a bigger fish, or their evidence is weak enough that they’re not sure they can get a conviction, or the case isn’t important enough to be worth the effort to get the conviction.
There is no bigger fish than Trump. The evidence is rock-solid. The case is the most important case this century at least.
There’s no reason for the government to accept anything short of a just plain guilty plea with no conditions, and that’s not a plea deal.