Trump’s New York hush-money trial: 12 legal terms explained

Washington
The trial of former President Donald Trump in New York, which has dominated headlines in the United States and across the world, is entering its final stage after more than six weeks of proceedings.
On Wednesday, jurors began the process of making a decision about whether to find Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The outcome of the trial could have major implications for the US presidential election in November and affect the future of the country for years to come.
Never before has a US president, past or present, faced criminal charges. Prosecutors have argued that Trump fudged the business records to conceal a hush-money payment that could have hurt his chances in the 2016 elections.
But Trump and his defence team have denied any wrongdoing, instead framing the charges as politically motivated.
Media coverage of the hush-money case has described the process largely by using legal terms. But it is not always easy to understand judicial jargon like “indictment” and “arraignment”.
Below, Al Jazeera explains 12 basic legal terms that readers may frequently come across in the news and how they apply to the Trump trial.
Prosecutor: A government lawyer who presents a criminal case on behalf of the state
In most jurisdictions in the US, the lead prosecutor — also known as the district attorney (DA) — is directly elected. A state’s top prosecutor is known as the attorney general.
Part of a prosecutor’s job is to decide whether to file charges against a suspected criminal. If the case proceeds to court, the prosecutor must then argue in favour of the charges, by presenting evidence that a crime has been committed.
In the Trump trial, for instance, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg assembled a team of prosecutors to argue Trump’s guilt.
They include Joshua Steinglass, a veteran assistant DA who delivered a five-plus-hour closing argument on Tuesday.