Legal experts skewered Alina Habba’s “comedy of bumbling errors” in Trump defamation trial

Former President Donald Trump’s appeal of the $83.3 million verdict in the defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll is unlikely to succeed, legal experts say.

“Let me ruin the suspense for everyone. Trump doesn’t have an appeal,” Nashville lawyer Brian Manookian argued Friday. “I know the talking heads on TV who have never tried a case or appealed a jury verdict have to mention it. Here’s why it isn’t going to fly.”

A person must “preserve a reversible error at the trial level” in order to have a case with merit on appeal, Manookian explained, ultimately blaming Trump’s lack thereof on his legal team in the case.

“This is why you hire competent counsel. You need someone who actually knows the rules of evidence and procedure,” he said. “Alina Habba had no clue what was occurring throughout the trial. She not only failed to preserve any remote grounds for appeal, like a moron, she repeatedly and unintentionally waived them over and over.”

  • thesprongler@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    It feels like Trump always hires incompetent lawyers so he and his media cronies can cry foul when it inevitably goes south. That’s not how the legal system works. I type this while I await jury duty.