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STORY: :: A legal expert says Trump's appeal against his conviction in New York faces long odds :: "I think, Any Defense appellate lawyer would take a look at the statute and would raise questions about whether the statute itself, under which Mr. Trump was prosecuted, might be unconstitutionally void, or, as the term is usually used in criminal law, void for vagueness. TRIM So I think that will be the starting point." :: May 31, 2024 :: Abbe Smith, Defense attorney and professor at Georgetown Law :: "I don't think there are many evidentiary issues that might arise on appeal. And that's the second thing a defense lawyer would look to. If the statute is vulnerable to a challenge, you start there, and then you start looking and figuring out whether the judge might have allowed some evidence in that he shouldn't have or prevented some evidence from coming in for the defense that he should have." :: "And there's a third conventional appellate issue, which is whether counsel was effective as a matter of constitutional law under the Sixth Amendment. And there I think, perhaps defense counsel's failure to object to the testimony by Stormy Daniels suggesting that the sexual encounter between her and Mr. Trump was anything other than consensual, might be fertile grounds for an appeal challenging the effectiveness of counsel." :: "So this is not a quick process. I don't see, even if the Appellate Division regards this case as special and urgent because of the presidential election, I still don't see that happening before November." It is unlikely any appeal would be resolved before the Nov. 5 election, in which Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, is set to square off against Democratic President Joe Biden. Twelve jurors found Trump guilty of fudging records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about the alleged 2006 encounter. To prevail on appeal, Trump, 77, must demonstrate that Justice Juan Merchan made significant errors in overseeing the trial.