(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Your Victim Impact Statement in New York v. Trump [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-06 BACKGROUND Before a judge sentences a defendant in a criminal matter involving a felony, a presentencing report is prepared by the probation department. In that presentence report, you will frequently find a Victim Impact Statement. Sometimes more than one. Here’s a definition of Victim Impact Statement that is short and sweet: A victim impact statement is a written or oral statement made as part of the judicial legal process, which allows crime victims the opportunity to speak during the sentencing of the convicted person or at subsequent parole hearings. NEW YORK V. TRUMP Will there be any Victim Impact Statements? Well, I’ve already sent one. You can bet that the orange traitor fuckpudding and the right wing media will lie and try to claim that this was somehow a victim-less crime. On the contrary, there were hundreds of millions of victims. And over the last eight years, there have been billions of Victim Impact Statements published on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube, at daily kos and democratic underground, in daily newspaper articles across the country, including obituaries, and during local and national television news broadcasts. Victim Impact Statements about Covid, the Insurrection, the Big Lie, Children separated from parents, the Extortion of Ukraine, the Theft of Top Secret documents and on and on and on. The person who judges the fuckpudding should have this history before him. Instead, he’s likely to have character letters from the usual bootlickers. He will have a criminal history that is devoid of all of the crimes that have actually occurred. But you and I can remedy this problem. We can send our own Victim Impact Statements to the court, the parties and the media. In the following section, you can read mine. MY VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT A. Cover Letter I included a short cover letter explaining what I enclosed. The recipients might still throw my Victim Impact Statement into the trash, but this would give them a quick idea why this exercise is necessary and potentially helpful. B. Victim Impact Statement VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT People v. Trump, Ind. No. 71543-2023 It is official New York State policy to recognize that “crime victims are an important part of the criminal justice process and have information that can assist” with the sentencing and the parole of defendants.¹ As an American citizen residing in the United States, and as a voter in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, I am a victim of the crimes committed by the defendant Donald J. Trump. The impact of those crimes on me and the rest of the nation form the basis for this statement. The jury in the above-entitled matter found the defendant guilty of intending to interfere in an election. According to the timeline of events of the 2016 presidential election, there is little doubt that if the information that the defendant had falsified had in fact became known to the American electorate there would have been a different result in the election. On October 7, 2016, the Washington Post published a video that has become known as the Access Hollywood tape.² That was almost exactly one month before the presidential election. Immediately after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, recriminations abounded from a long list of politicians, including Republicans such as Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. Many Republicans suggested in the media that the defendant drop out of the race.³ On the very next day, as the evidence in the defendant’s trial showed, Stormy Daniels contacted the National Enquirer about her sexual liaison with the defendant. The defendant, through his attorney, wired the hush money payment to Daniels’ representative on October 27, 2016, just twelve days before the election. PERSONAL IMPACT The most devastating personal impact from the defendant’s crime relates to his later handling of the Covid outbreak as President. I had a favorite uncle who passed away in the early days of Covid, just as social distancing became a requirement. Because it was during the initial outbreak of the virus, we still don’t know how much Covid contributed to his death. It did force me to abandon plans to attend his funeral. That same scenario played out hundreds of thousands of times across America. Loved ones died from Covid, and their loved ones couldn’t attend to them in the hospital or attend their funeral. The same is true of the disease the defendant has caused with regard to elections. Were the elections fair? Will they be fair in the future? I don’t know and that is very worrying. You see, the defendant has now attempted to subvert American elections four times, starting with the crimes involved in this case, moving on to the Extortion of Ukraine (for which the defendant was impeached), then the Big Lie and finally the subsequent January 6 Insurrection (for which the defendant was again impeached). As you can see, the defendant is an habitual criminal when it comes to election interference, a multiple repeat offender. He is currently situated in a position to replicate his crimes. Showing no remorse for what he’s done, what is to stop the defendant from doing that again? A prison sentence. To quiet the anxiety that I and millions of Americans feel about our future and the future of our elections, there is but one recourse: To punish this repeat offender. Additionally, because of the defendant’s negligent response to the pandemic, I lost between $5,000.00 and $10,000.00 in economic benefits. There is a term known as the “Covid-19 Recession” that is due in part to the negligence of the defendant, and before that, his criminal acts. On top of all of that, there was the shame in knowing that this crook—this person who stole money from charity and interfered in elections—represented our country on the world stage. SENTENCING OF THE DEFENDANT In light of the catastrophic damage done by the defendant while President, and also because of the threat he poses to free elections and our democracy, we ask the court to sentence him to four years in prison. This proposal is not just an emotional response to the damage done by this man. It is also based upon a legal framework: The Enron case. ENRON SENTENCING Enron was, at its core, a business records falsification case. The defendants doctored up business records that otherwise would have shown a business on the brink of bankruptcy (if not already bankrupt). It eventually did file for bankruptcy. The Enron defendants—the folks who falsified business records—were all white-collar first-time non-violent offenders. We ask this court to take judicial notice of the fraud judgments already levied by New York Justices and juries against the defendant, as well as the impeachments in two election cases to find that he should not be treated as a first-time non-violent offender. However, even if this court decides differently, the Enron sentencing comes into play. So, what happened to the Enron defendants? White-collar first-time-non-violent-offender defendant #1 received a ten-year sentence because of a plea deal in which the defendant accepted responsibility for his crimes and agreed to testify against his co-defendants. White-collar first-time-offender-non-violent defendant #2 was slammed with a 24-year sentence because he refused to plead guilty, forced the Government to the time and expense of presenting a full trial, never accepted responsibility, and was found guilty of 19 of the charges against him.⁴ Sound familiar? Michael Cohen received a three-year sentence, in part, due to his actions in the business falsification crimes that related to Federal Elections. He only received three years because he accepted responsibility and agreed to a plea bargain. He also said he would testify against your defendant. But what about the ringleader in New York v. Trump? He has never accepted responsibility, will almost certainly never accept responsibility in the future, and he forced the Government to go to the time and expense of a trial. In light of Enron, what should his sentence be? We believe it should be four years of incarceration. But here’s where the analogy differs, although I think it differs in a way that improves the point that I would like to make: The Enron defendants falsified business records in a way that cost people a lot of money. In New York v. Trump, the defendant falsified business records in a way that cost an American election. CONCLUSION We ask the Court to take judicial notice of any and all news reports, other criminal and civil court decisions (including the fraud and defamation cases against the defendant and his company), and any other item the Court deems prudent on the topics of Covid-19, the “Big Lie,” the Extortion of Ukraine, the Insurrection and any other betrayal of trust and fraud committed by the defendant. Further, we pray this Honorable Court to sentence the defendant to four years of incarceration. Finally, the information contained herein is true and correct based upon information and belief. ________________ ¹ New York State Department of Corrections, Office of Victims Assistance, doccs.ny.gov/office-victim- assistance. ² Trump Recorded Having Extremely Lewd Conversation About Women in 2005, Washington Post, David A. Farenthold (October 8, 2016). ³ See id. ⁴ United States v. Jeffrey K. Skilling, Criminal Division, U.S. Dept. of Justice, official website. YOUR TURN What can you do to help? Write your own Victim Impact Statement! We did not have the same experiences during the last eight years, and additional information from additional people can provide a diverse factual predicate for Justice Merchan. Did a relative of yours die from Covid? Did you lose money? Have you lost trust in the American electoral system while the defendant remains free? What you-specific reasons do you have to show to the court? It doesn’t have to be long or have footnotes. You can send a postcard, or maybe a copy of an obituary. Be professional. To remain anonymous, you can send your VIS to the probation office at the address above. In your statement, let the probation officer know that you wish to remain anonymous. I have decided to go with my real name and address because I’ve had quite enough of this convicted felon, and I don’t care who knows it. I also sent a bcc to various media outlets. I would love to see a pile of letters on Justice Merchan’s desk exhorting him to send the orange traitor fuckpudding to prison. You know that the pundits (who didn’t think much of the case in the first place) will be saying no prison for him. As actual victims of his crime, we should have a say in the decision. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/6/2244831/-Your-Victim-Impact-Statement-in-New-York-v-Trump?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/