Juan Merchan, the ‘no-nonsense’ judge handling historic Donald Trump trial

During college, he worked nights as a dishwasher and hotel manager.

Washington:

While in college, dealing with occasionally noisy guests as a hotel manager and keeping the workplace in order as a dishwasher seemed to uniquely prepare the judge handling Donald Trump’s trial. Judge Juan Merchan kept the proceedings moving at a rapid pace during the first two days, overseeing the selection of one-third of the jury and alternates, despite suggestions that screening could take weeks. time, while replacing former President Trump when he appeared to be exiting. line.

Merchant said he hoped opening arguments could begin as early as Monday, prompting the Republican presidential candidate to accuse the judge of “rushing the trial.”

“Judge Silas is a no-nonsense judge who will not tolerate interruptions or delays,” said John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School.

Merchant was born in Bogota, Colombia, and moved to the heavily Latino borough of Queens in New York City when he was six.

He worked as a dishwasher and hotel manager during college and was the first of six siblings.

He graduated from Baruch College in 1990 and four years later earned a law degree from Hofstra University on Long Island, where 97 percent of first-year students receive financial aid.

Merchant went on to work in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office before being appointed as a family court judge in 2006.

Mocha, who oversaw the Trump Organization’s tax fraud trial in 2022 that fined the group $1.6 million, is also a stickler for time.

Earlier this week, he accused Trump’s legal team of taking a late break.

“Perfect temperament”

Judges and appeals courts have repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s lawyers as they sought to delay or move the trial to other courts.

Former judge Barry Kamins said: “Merchane has the temperament to preside over a trial that will be highly publicized and where the defendants will test the judge’s patience.”

In this case, he took a no-nonsense approach to protecting jurors from the threat of outside interference and intimidation and granting them strict anonymity.

“A protective order is necessary,” he wrote before jury selection. “The potential exists for bribery, jury tampering, physical harm or harassment of jurors.”

On Tuesday, he berated Trump in person for the first time after the defendant grunted loud enough for prospective jurors to hear and made animated gestures.

“I will not allow any juror to be intimidated in the courtroom,” Merchan said, instructing Trump’s lawyers to talk to their client about his conduct.

Trump has accused Murchin of bias, insisting he could not get a fair trial because of his small donations to Democrats and because the judge’s daughter worked for a campaign firm with ties to his opponent.

Amid the former president’s outburst, Murchin issued a gag order barring Trump from publicly disparaging jurors and court staff, a restriction he later expanded to include members of his own family and the chief prosecutor. family.

But Trump — accused in the case of covering up hush-money payments to a porn star he allegedly had a tryst with to protect his 2016 presidential campaign — continued to criticize him.

“We think we have a very conflicted judge who should not be involved in this case,” Trump said outside the court on Tuesday.

Merchant has agreed to prosecutors’ request for a hearing next week to consider whether Trump has been held in contempt of court, a charge that could see the former president jailed if convicted.

But Coffey, the law professor, said it was unlikely the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting Trump, would agree to imprison Trump.

“(A silent investigation) will keep the trains running on time, but it won’t have much of an impact on Trump’s out-of-court statements to the media,” Coffee said.

The trial will resume on Thursday after a day off on Wednesday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)