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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Opinion: Trump might have dozed off in court. Here’s how that could
come back to bite him
Opinion by Elliot Williams
Updated:
8:11 PM EDT, Thu April 18, 2024
Source: CNN
Courtrooms don’t lend themselves to keeping people awake. They are
notoriously quiet places where people are required to remain seated
almost all of the time. The air is often stagnant and the
ever-so-distracting handheld devices that are our lifelines to (and
barrier from) the world around us are strictly forbidden.
That’s the kind of environment in which Donald Trump, a defendant in
a criminal courtroom in Manhattan (who also happens to be the 45th
President of the United States) appeared to doze off in court this
week.
Jury selection resumed Thursday in the case against Trump and there was
plenty of action in the courtroom, with a full jury getting seated
only hours after earlier in the morning. All of this in the midst of
unresolved questions about by making statements on social media
about prospective jurors, which will be addressed at a hearing next
week.
Still, the question remains: Can Trump consistently stay awake through
the long slog of a criminal trial?
On Monday, Trump, who is on trial for falsifying business records to
cover up a sex scandal, appeared to catch a few minutes of shut-eye in
his criminal case for falsifying business records to cover up a sex
scandal. As reported by The , Trump seemed to doze off, “his mouth
going slack and his head drooping onto his chest.” Other news reports
said that Trump during the second day of jury selection on Tuesday.
One might chuckle at the thought of a high-profile figure “catching
some Z’s” at an inopportune time. Still, it was a striking image
that simulcast three individuals in one: a criminal defendant; one of
the most powerful people on the planet; and a napping old man. And,
despite their bluster, none of those three faces of Trump has
meaningful control of the legal system of which they are now an
unwilling participant. Thursday’s back-and-forth over jurors
demonstrated that nothing will be straightforward in the prosecution of
a former President, and that this legal proceeding won’t be over any
time soon.
Setting aside Thursday’s drama — and in fairness to the former
President who might have been struggling at times to stay awake —
court proceedings typically are boring in a way in which the average
member of the public might not appreciate.
As a former prosecutor and attorney in Congress, I have attended more
trials and hearings than I can count over the years and can attest that
more than anything else, the gears of justice are not made for the
24-hour news cycle. What might be resolved in an eight-minute final
segment of an episode of “Law and Order” might be drawn out over
days of painstaking testimony. It can take months, if not years (even
in cases in which a defendant is not ) before a matter finally gets to
trial.
People have fallen asleep in far less hospitable environments: XVI
did once when saying a mass in Malta; dozed at the dedication of the
George W. Bush Presidential Center; and (although she later quipped
that it had only happened because she “was not 100 percent sober”).
I have not fallen asleep at a trial or or a congressional proceeding,
but I am also cursed with not being able to fall asleep just anywhere.
I, however, am married to someone who does not have the same problem.
(Marital privilege prohibits me from disclosing whether she once fell
asleep on a Zoom call with the camera off.)
In practice, there is little consequence to Trump for nodding off for a
few moments during jury selection. If something of note had come up,
any one of his attorneys would surely have been able to regain his
attention if the need arose.
Not everyone is so lucky when those around them fall asleep in court.
is not sufficient to have a conviction tossed out. The same can be
said for sleeping jurors. While the guarantees us all the right to
competent legal counsel, it’s not necessarily required that one’s
lawyer even be awake during legal proceedings.
Defendants throughout history have gone to jail, to die, despite their
lawyers having slept through their trials. Still, one can almost excuse
a judge or juror for succumbing to accidental sleep under the
conditions. A defendant whose liberty is on the line would be well
advised to find out a way to stay awake. (Some judges might frown upon
a defendant chewing gum in court, but , some of them
courthouse-friendly.)
All of this exposes an enormous problem for Trump. The images of him in
court are a stark visual reminder that, like it or not, he is a
defendant like any other. Though presumed innocent, he is subject to
the protections — and strictures — of the legal system and stands a
real chance of ending up behind bars if he is convicted.
The Sixth Amendment requires that he remain in the courtroom for the
duration of his criminal proceedings. The rule is for his own
protection; the Constitution requires that he be able to “confront”
the prosecution. No courthouse press conference, campaign speech or
indignant online tirade can change the requirement the Constitution
foists on him as an accused. That will mean a lot of time trapped in
the obscurity of a windowless, under-ventilated courtroom.
A man of Trump’s age needs . Given that the judge has called parties
to court every morning at 9:30 and the former President has been known
to take to social media in the , he’s going to need to catch
up on those hours somehow. It’s his choice only as to where to do so.
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