I heard DA Bragg say in his 5/30 new conf. that using other laws to bump up misdemeanors to felonies is "something we do all the time." But you say (and I keep hearing) about the novelty of the theory of law in this case (i.e. " a potential issue with using a federal campaign finance law as the basis for turning a state misdemeanor into a felony"). I hope you (or someone pls god) can reconcile these two statements for me/us in print somewhere. Thx for good work!
Both are true - the statute allows it to be bumped up from a misdemeanor to a felony if the false documents were created to cover up another crime, and that is indeed done all the time. But there is some controversy about the particular "other crimes" used in this case, including whether you can rely on a federal statute rather than a NY statute, and whether the NY state election crime they used applies to federal elections.
I heard DA Bragg say in his 5/30 new conf. that using other laws to bump up misdemeanors to felonies is "something we do all the time." But you say (and I keep hearing) about the novelty of the theory of law in this case (i.e. " a potential issue with using a federal campaign finance law as the basis for turning a state misdemeanor into a felony"). I hope you (or someone pls god) can reconcile these two statements for me/us in print somewhere. Thx for good work!
Both are true - the statute allows it to be bumped up from a misdemeanor to a felony if the false documents were created to cover up another crime, and that is indeed done all the time. But there is some controversy about the particular "other crimes" used in this case, including whether you can rely on a federal statute rather than a NY statute, and whether the NY state election crime they used applies to federal elections.