Leon R. Koziol

Former New York trial attorney

Pre-arraignment analyses made in recent posts here at http://www.leonkoziol.com regarding an unsealed indictment against Donald Trump have now been validated. As predicted, a gag order was sought by Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg but denied by Judge Juan Merchan with cautionary comments.

For the defense part, no motion for recusal or venue change was made. In all other respects, this historic proceeding was uneventful from a procedural standpoint. The former president and 2024 front running candidate was charged with 34 felony counts to which pleas of Not Guilty were entered.

A motion date was set for August and a pretrial hearing for December 4, 2023. Both the D.A. and Trump lawyer, Joe Tacopina, conducted news conferences after the arraignment while the accused returned to Mar-a-Lago. His reaction is anticipated tonight at 8 pm.He should focus on more than politics but the weaponization of our justice system.

A treasure trove of legal defects is available to Mr. Trump which is likely to be incorporated into an omnibus motion for dismissal. They include, inter alia, a challenge to the face of the indictment and, alternatively, the interests of justice under the Criminal Procedure Law.

These counts can be boiled down to only a few, They were packaged together to bolster Bragg’s public standing. Resort to federal court may also be available on grounds that a local D.A. has no jurisdiction to prosecute a federal election crime to rehabilitate a state misdemeanor crime infected by a long expired 2-year statute of limitations.

While murders and crime continue to escalate in Alvin Bragg’s district, this politically contaminated D.A. has chosen to advance himself at public expense to the tune of millions of dollars and needless risk to an army of law enforcement, court security and secret service whose resources are better applied elsewhere.

In the end, even Trump adversaries expressed sympathy for Trump’s persecution. On a national scale it mirrors mine on a state level as a former office holder and civil rights attorney. How ironic it is to see issues already raised in my 10-year ordeal in today’s proceedings which are detailed in my 13-page Law Review and News Alert released here on March 17, 2023 and 2021 memoir, Whistleblower in Paris,