they can be found guilty of any of these crimes and the current Supreme Court will overturn the convictions.

I am not sure how much pardons will play into this. I am a bit more worried at this point about our highest court.

Last edited Sat Jul 15, 2017, 04:14 PM - Edit history (1)

The Supreme Court rarely accepts criminal cases for review - they'll do it only if there's a significant constitutional issue that is unresolved or there is a split among the federal circuit courts.

In a criminal trial, if the defendant is found guilty by jury verdict, defense counsel can make a motion for a judgment of acquittal (similar to a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict in a civil trial), but these motions are hardly ever granted. It might happen if the judge thinks the prosecution presented insufficient evidence and as a result concludes that no reasonable jury could have reached a guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a very tough standard to meet. If the judge denies the motion for acquittal the defendant can appeal, but the appellate court always gives great deference to jury verdicts. Unless a trial was horribly bungled by the prosecutor (which would be extremely unlikely in the cases in question, given the first-rate quality of the lawyers who prosecute high-stakes federal criminal cases), a guilty verdict will almost certainly be upheld by the appellate courts.

w/ the protracted appeal.