@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social
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Teri_Kanefield

@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social

Former appellate defender and UC Berkeley Law graduate. My practice was limited to representing indigents on appeal.

I’ve written more than a dozen books and published more than 50 short pieces in The Washington Post, Cnn.com, and others. My book prizes include the Jane Addams Book Award.

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Teri_Kanefield, (edited ) to random
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If you read my weekend blog post, you know that I've been pointing out that the predicate crime in the Trump trial is not clear.

(For what I mean, see my weekend blog post).

Here is what the Washington Post reported.

See screenshots #1 and #2.

Here is the law: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ELN/17-152?utm_medium=email&wpisrc=nl-nationalpopup&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=wp_the_trump_trials

To be clear: I have no idea how this trial will turn out. I cannot substitute my judgment for the jury because I am not seeing what they are seeing.

1/

Teri_Kanefield, (edited )
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I also do not know how this theory will develop.

In general, with criminal cases, if you are a betting person, it's safer to bet on the prosecution. They usually win because they pick which cases to bring and they generally wait until they have a strong enough case.

There are problems, though, with using novel theories in criminal cases. We have something called a Rule of Lenity
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/rule_of_lenity

That said, the rule of lenity is complicated and hard to apply.

2/

Teri_Kanefield, (edited )
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It's also easy for me to sit here and poke holes in what we know so far of the prosecutor's theory.

(If you want to try some arm-chair defense lawyering, you can have some fun with it.)

I'll resist because I have a feeling we only know part of their theory. Right now it feel shaky. I mean, if keeping bad information from voters is election interference, well, lots of people are guilty (and there wasn't enough notice that this is a crime.)

3/

Teri_Kanefield,
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@qurlyjoe

Never apply what you learn from a TV show to real life particularly criminal law.

Teri_Kanefield,
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(I said I'd resist poking holes and yet, here I go)

If "election interference" means finding ways to keep bad information about a candidate from being made public, then you have just criminalized something common.

There are all kinds protections, including Constitutional protections, from charging people with a crime that was just invented.

If I run for office and ask my neighbor not to tell anyone I was a jerk to her, am I intefereing in the election?

4/

Teri_Kanefield,
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@jonberger HAHA yes My autocorrect didn't like that word.

Thanks.

Teri_Kanefield,
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Here is the link to my weekend blog post:
https://terikanefield.com/trumps-first-criminal-trial-theories-of-the-case/

I was trying to figure out the prosecution's legal theory of the case.

Anyway, you can see some of the issues I was having with it.

5/

Teri_Kanefield,
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@panamared27401

It has to be a crime. And the crime has to be on the books.

It sounds bad but so far I am not seeing the crime.

Not everything bad or immoral is a crime.

Teri_Kanefield,
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@Elsehere Correct.

Teri_Kanefield,
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@panamared27401

Unlawfully interfering in an election is a crime, but what is the unlawful part?

Catch and kill isn't unlawful. Hiding bad information from voters isn't unlawful.

Where is Trump's crime?

He did a lot of bad and immoral things but not everything bad or immoral is a crime.

Teri_Kanefield,
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@panamared27401

You can't pass a law that says, "Anything that might sway voters is a crime" because where does that end?

You can't pass a law that says, "hiding bad information from voters is a crime" because you could probably charge everyone who ever ran for office.

"She didn't tell voters that you were caught cheating on a test in 8th grade! Throw her in jail!"

Teri_Kanefield,
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@panamared27401

See: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ELN/17-152?utm_medium=email&wpisrc=nl-nationalpopup&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=wp_the_trump_trials

The reasoning is circular.

Teri_Kanefield,
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@alexhammy

That is correct, and that would be a sensible predicate crime.

But that isn't election interference. If's a campaign finance crime which is common and almost always results in a fine.

AMI and Cohen both pleaded guilty to campaign finance crimes.

Teri_Kanefield,
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@panamared27401 Falsifying business records is a crime, but it's a misdemeanor.

If done as part of a catch and kill, it is a misdemeanor. It is only a felony if there is a predicate crime.

Reread my blog post from the weekend. That would be easier than answering each question.

That should help you understand.

Teri_Kanefield, to random
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Today is an important anniversary.

73 years ago, on April 23, 1951, in Farmville, VA, Barbara Johns led a walkout of her segregated high school to protest the unfair and deplorable conditions of her school.

What?! You don’t know who Barbara Johns was?

She led her walkout more than 4 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, and before MLK, Jr. embraced nonviolence as the way to equality.

1/

Teri_Kanefield,
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After she and her classmates turned the rural town of Farmville upside down, she called in the NAACP.

The NAACP took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Barbara and her classmates became plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that ended segregation in America. Their case was combined with cases from other states.

2/

Teri_Kanefield,
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OK so, why wasn’t she given credit for her role as an early leader in the Modern Civil Rights movement and one of the first to use nonviolence as a means of achieving racial equality?

Taylor Branch, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, argues that Barbara wasn’t given credit because she was a child.

3/

Teri_Kanefield,
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I'll add that she wasn't recognized because she was a girl, poor, and black—what scholars call the “triple invisibility.” After her strike, her life was threatened and her family home was burned down.

A few years ago, Scholastic Magazine asked me to write two articles about Barbara, one for middle school level readers, and one for younger readers.

You can read one of my articles by clicking here:
https://terikanefield.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/imagine-this-was-your-school.pdf

4/

Teri_Kanefield,
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Scholastic asked me to write the articles because (I'm proud to tell you) I'm the author of the only book about Barbara Johns.

5/

Teri_Kanefield,
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Barbara died in 1991.

When I started researching this book (I started in 2001) her family was afraid to talk to me because so much violence had come their way.

Her daughter was terrified of what I'd write in the book. Afer the book was published I met her at one of the award ceremonies (the book won several awards) and she had tears she was so happy I'd written it.

Now the Moton Museum celebrates Barbara Rose Johns day:

https://motonmuseum.org/signature-programs/barbara-rose-johns-day/#:~:text=Honoring%20the%20Legacy%20of%20Barbara,(1935%2D1991)&text=Designating%20April%2023%2C%20in%202018,Barbara%20Johns%20Day%20in%20Virginia.

6/

Teri_Kanefield,
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Violence: Their house was burned down. A cross was burned in front of Barbara's school.

Barbara was sent to live with her uncle in Alabama for safety. (Her family marveled at sending her to Alabama from Virginia for safety.)

7/

Teri_Kanefield,
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One day I won't be the author of the only book about Barbara Johns, but I will always be the author of the first book.

I could write a book about the experience of going through Virginia trying to get the information for this book. People finally trusted me enough to pull letters and photographs out of closets and attics.

I met a lot of people and learned more than went into the book.

7/

Teri_Kanefield,
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@lolonurse @Jerry

Ha! thank you.

As I was writing this thread, I thought maybe I should just retire. How will I ever top this?

Teri_Kanefield,
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@fracicone Thank you! If we are ever in the same city I'd be delighted to sign your copy.

Teri_Kanefield, to random
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I am now going to share the recipe for how to make perfect matzo balls.

Legal and political analysis PLUS recipes.

Joan (my favorite person) made the best matzo balls. A few decades ago, I was assigned the task of bringing the matzo balls to the Seder. Naturally, I called Joan for her recipe.

I’ve been using her recipe ever since, and now I am the one famous in our family for the best matzo balls.

Here is the trick. . .

1/

Teri_Kanefield,
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@All4One

I'll try to put it there later

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