Is it odd that he switched to public defender instead of acquiring his own representation?
this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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Well considering Trump has a long history of not actually paying his employees, wouldn't be surprised if this guy couldn't afford it
On review of all the additional evidence and testimony, it became obvious to the prosecution that the key witness ("Trump Employee 4" - revealed by NBC News to be "Yuscil Taveras" - IT Director at Mar-a-Lago) in question had perjured himself in earlier grand jury testimony and that it was a conflict of interest for that witness to be represented by by the same attorney (Stanley Woodward) representing other involved clients.
Prosecutors asked for a hearing on the representation issue before James Boasberg, the chief US District Court judge in Washington DC who oversaw the grand jury investigation.
Judge Boasberg had a federal defender available to advise Taveras if requested, and Taveras did opt to change lawyers after he learned he was being investigated on suspicion of making false statements in previous grand jury testimony.
So, TL/DR: he went with the public defender out of the immediacy and need for independent counsel and the only option available at that moment was the public defender who was pre-emptively made available by the Judge himself.
I will speculate that he will be acquiring his own representation going forward.
Attorneys will jump on it, their name attached to a case like this can make and break careers.
He probably can't afford it
He's the "IT guy" at a hotel. That doesn't scream high net worth to me.
I’m not high net worth and I’ve paid for attorneys. Don’t have to be high net worth to be able to pay for proper representation.
You do have to have money in the first place.
Trump hates paying people.
Also, this is a case that is likely to take a lot of time and require a lot of attorney time. A public defender is likely a more sound financial decision even for someone with a reasonable amount of savings. Why go into crippling debt defending yourself from a former president, when a public defender will do it on the tax payer dime.
Probably was offered immunity, but his Trump paid lawyer said no. So why spend money on a lawyer when you can get a public defender for free and then take the deal?
Idk but possibly related: I've heard that there are a good number of times you should prefer public defender to paid representation.
So there's an attorney recommendinf perjury? Not very cashmoney of him...
Perjury to advantage his other client. There has to be a law against lawyers doing that.
I mean that sounds like fraud to me, is there a form of malpractice that applies to Legal cases? Like a lawyer version of medical malpractice.
I think Kim gets sued for something similar in Better Call Saul. It’s almost definitely something you can get disbarred over.
Conflict of interest, it's an ethical violation and at times grounds for mistrial by willfully ineffective counsel.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
A key witness against former President Donald Trump and his two co-defendants in the Mar-a-Lago documents case recanted previous false testimony and provided new information implicating the defendants after he switched lawyers, special counsel Jack Smith’s office said in a new court filing.
Taveras decided to change lawyers after he learned he was being investigated on suspicion of having made false statements in his previous grand jury testimony in Washington, D.C., the court filing says.
"When Trump Employee 4 testified before the grand jury in the District of Columbia in March 2023, he repeatedly denied or claimed not to recall any contacts or conversations about the security footage at Mar-a-Lago," the filing says.
By late June, prosecutors had "advised Trump Employee 4 (through Mr. Woodward) that he was the target of a grand jury investigation in the District of Columbia into whether he committed perjury."
Prosecutors asked for a hearing on the representation issue before James Boasberg, the chief U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., who oversaw the grand jury investigation.
Shelli Peterson — the first assistant federal public defender in Washington, whom the special counsel's filing refers to — declined to comment Tuesday night.
The original article contains 717 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys.
Not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure telling your client to lie is a No-No!
You could argue he wasn’t the guy’s lawyer
who was being paid by the former president's Save America PAC
A lawyer represents whoever is the paying his bills.
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