Why Trump is likely to have more leeway for outbursts in criminal trials
The former president's heated exchange with a federal judge this week comes as trial proceedings loom in four criminal cases ahead of the 2024 election.
A federal judge threatened to kick Donald Trump out of a civil trial Wednesday. The judges overseeing his criminal cases this year might be less inclined to issue similar ultimatums, although there are still ways to try to curtail his behavior.
The challenge facing judges in Trump's four criminal trials is the need to balance potential outbursts against specific legal rights for criminal defendants, according to legal experts.
Criminal defendants have the constitutional right to be present at their trials — a right not as absolute in civil cases. While judges can still boot defendants during criminal proceedings if their conduct is deemed bad enough, they may be warier about wading into that territory.
"A criminal defendant has a right to be present at all proceedings, and I've had cases where convictions are overturned because a judge put a guy in another room where he could watch everything but couldn't communicate with his lawyer," said Danny Cevallos, an attorney and NBC News legal analyst. "So any time a judge removes a defendant in a criminal case, the judge has to consider some very important constitutional issues in the possibility that the case could get overturned."
E. Jean Carroll’s civil damages trial turned heated Wednesday when the judge threatened to kick Trump out of the courtroom for making comments during witness testimony that Carroll’s lawyer said the jury could have heard.
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