| In Drug Trial Justice Juan
Merchan Says Emojis Matter In
Courtroom Trump Was Tried In
by
Matthew & Russell
Lee, Patreon Substack
100
CENTRE ST,
May 7 – A man on trial for
significant drug sales before
NYS Justice Juan Merchan may
see his fate determined by
emojis.
After a
witness from the Office of the
Special Narcotics Prosecutor
testified about charts she
constructed from text messages
involving the defendant, the
jury was sent home for the
day.
Then the
real argument began. The
defense lawyer, retained,
argued that the text messages
were cumulative, an argument
Justice Merchan called not the
strongest. He took more
interest in alterations
between versions.
In the
initial Cellebrite extraction,
a thumbs-up emoji was visible.
But it disappeared in the
subsequent PDF
version.
Justice
Merchan asked, Weren't the
PDFs created at the defense's
request? When the answer was
yes, he said I am allowing the
emojis in as evidence.
Emojis
matter. Maybe a
lot.
Four stories
below, Justice Cori H. Weston
in her gun and DNA trial
denied the defense's motion to
dismiss made once it rested
its case. Choosing
instructions for the following
day, she concluded "Yada,
Yada, Yada."
And so it goes in
100 Centre Street
***
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