Judge Juan Merchan is currently presiding over a language dispute related to Michael Cohen's crimes in court. The defense is advocating for a specific wording in the jury instructions, proposing 'participated in a crime.' On the other hand, the prosecution is pushing for 'participated in and was convicted of two crimes.'
After deliberation, Judge Merchan sided with the defense's request to modify the sentence to read 'participated in crimes' in the plural form, omitting any mention of convictions. Additionally, there is a debate between the parties regarding the use of 'accomplice' versus 'culprit' in the sentence.
During the proceedings, Judge Merchan emphasized the importance of adhering to standard pattern jury instructions, stating, 'You should know going forward for the rest of this conference and beyond where there is standard pattern jury instructions I don’t deviate.' Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass expressed concern over the defense's suggestion of using 'culprit,' as it deviated from the established standard jury instructions.
