Fox News’ Andy McCarthy Slams Judge Merchan for Giving Jury ‘Menu of Choices’ to Convict Trump: ‘Pretty Outrageous’

Fox News’ Andy McCarthy explained how one particular instruction given to the jury by Judge Juan Merchan in Donald Trump’s hush money trial gives the prosecution an advantage on America’s Newsroom Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, Merchan told the jury that it could convict Trump if they decide the falsification of business records charges he faces are tied to an intent to commit any one of three  crimes — a violation of federal campaign law, falsification of other business records, or tax fraud — revealed by the prosecution on Tuesday even if they don’t agree on which crime he intended to commit, repeating an assertion made by prosecuting attorney Joshua Steinglass.

On Fox News, McCarthy said he couldn’t bring the instruction into “line with the United States Constitution.”

“What’s supposed to happen in a criminal trial is a prosecutor has to prove every element of an offense beyond a reasonable doubt. So every crime, which is a creature of some statute has different elements. One is a mental element. and then there are the things that you have to do to commit the crime. So like with bank robbery you have to, you know, take money by force from a financial institution and do it intentionally. And those are the things the prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” began McCarthy while setting the stage. “What this judge is telling this jury in this kind of make-it-up-as-you-go-along New York state prosecution of federal law is that when they get to the end of the rainbow and we get to the elements of the offense, the jury doesn’t have to be in agreement on what it is exactly that Trump did or what he was trying to commit or conceal when he allegedly falsified his business record.”

“So they’re going to give the jury a menu of choices and tell the jury that some of them may believe that this was a criminal objective, some of them may believe something else was, but that they don’t have to be unanimous on that,” he added. “I actually think that’s pretty outrageous. But in this case, I’m not sure it makes the top ten of outrageous.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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