Trump's historic trial starts this month. Here's what will happen
CBC
This is the month Donald Trump goes to trial. As far as criminal trials before the November presidential election, this could be it.
With his other cases engulfed in uncertainty, this single criminal trial, the first in history of a former U.S. president, might saddle Trump with an unwanted label entering the election: convicted felon.
It's an unanticipated twist for a case routinely described as the least serious among the four confronting Trump.
He's accused here of falsifying business records to hide payments to silence a porn star about their affair, and the felony charges hinge on a key accusation: that the scheme violated state and federal election laws in 2016.
Suddenly, it could become the most politically salient case in American history. His trial on 34 New York state felony charges begins April 15.
While polls are not prophecy, several surveys suggest a criminal conviction could hurt Trump in a close election, costing him at least a few percentage points.
"The irony is this is the smallest charge — the most insignificant charge against President Trump," said Tim Bakken, a law professor at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point.
To get a sense of what lies ahead, CBC News spoke with five experts on New York's criminal justice system, some of whom have dealt personally with Juan Merchan, the judge in Trump's case, and who know the lawyers involved.
The bottom line?
A verdict by summer is highly likely; a conviction is possible. But don't count on jail time, most say, and the appeals process could last well into the next presidency.
The court will hear pre-trial motions. For instance, Trump could try moving the trial to the suburbs to get a more conservative jury pool outside deep blue Manhattan.
That gambit wouldn't work, predicts Cynthia Godsoe, a Canadian American professor at Brooklyn Law School who was on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's transition team. Manhattan is where Trump lived and where the alleged events happened.
The court will then face an unusual challenge: finding a jury capable of being impartial when it comes to Donald Trump.
"Everybody's got an opinion on the guy," said Mark Cohen, who has been a criminal prosecution and defence lawyer since 1985, at the federal and state level.
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