You probably recall that when he ran for president in 2016, Donald Trump promised that he would surround himself with “only the best people,” and therefore guarantee that his administration went down in history as one of the best.
But as we’ve learned over the years, Trump is a terrible judge of talent, and most of the people he appointed or nominated to high positions turned out to be complete idiots who weren’t bright enough to pour piss out of a boot with the directions printed on the botton.
One of those nominees, Aileen Cannon, is now judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and is clearly in way over her head.
According to Jose Pagliery of The Daily Beast, a recent mistake by Cannon could have led to an innocent man going to prison for a crime he claims he didn’t commit.
The man, Christopher Wilkins, was tried in Cannon’s court, and when it came time for the judge to give the jury a verdict form, the one she provided only featured one option: Guilty. Not guilty wasn’t listed as an alternative.
Jeffrey Garland, an attorney for Wilkins, notes, “How far does somebody have to go to school to say that a verdict form is supposed to say guilty and not guilty? That would be one of the more egregious versions of jury instruction error… it’s such a rare error.”
Garland is now appealing his client’s conviction, and there’s an excellent chance he’ll win that appeal because Judge Cannon doesn’t know what in the hell she’s doing.
“This is the judge’s deal,” Garland added. “This is nobody else’s deal. I’m gonna tell ya, I’ve done a lot of appeals, and I’ve got a pretty good winning record. This is a great issue.”
University of Georgia law professor Elizabeth Taxel said she was absolutely stunned by Cannon’s blatant mistake:
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I am a law professor, and I found it cumbersome to read and follow. It’s unclear to me why the court didn’t, out of an abundance of caution, include ‘guilty or not guilty.’”
Judge Cannon is now overseeing the trial of failed ex-president Trump on felony counts of mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice by attempting to hide those documents from investigators, including the FBI and Department of Justice.
Attorney Garland made it clear that he has absolutely no faith in Cannon’s ability to serve as a judge:
“That’s her verdict form. There’s no ‘guilty’ and ‘not guilty.’ The traditional format is ‘guilty’ and ‘not guilty,’ as it was on the proposed form the government and I had created. We agreed on that. And she comes up with this. This is her creation. This is her baby. It’s kind of funny. It’s ridiculous.”
Only the best people.
