Reasonable minds can differ over whether Donald Trump should have been prosecuted for his crimes at this time, but there is no argument as to whether the trial was fair (“Donald Trump completes mandatory presentencing interview after less than 30 minutes of questioning,” June 10).

It has been my experience, after practicing law for 40 years, that one of the considerations prosecutors take into account when prosecuting multiple defendants is to try to be sure prosecutions and the sentences are proportional to the defendant’s involvement with the crime. Michael Cohen went to jail for what he did in the conspiracy. So if all is fair, Trump would go to jail longer. The jury clearly found he orchestrated the payoff and the phony business deduction to conceal the payment. When all is fair, the principal in the conspiracy gets more time than those only playing a part in the conspiracy. That will not happen.

Undoubtedly, Trump also will not suffer the consequences of his actions during the trial as well. He violated the gag order at multiple times. While I did not specialize in criminal defense in my career, it was always my preference when I did that my client not refer to the judge as “conflicted” a “devil” and a “tyrant” prior to sentencing. It might make the judge think they are not remorseful or appreciate the wrongs they have done making it easier for the judge to impose an even stiffer sentence. This also will not happen. It should if fairness is your only criterion.

We have been proud as Americans for over 200 years to have jury trials as our bulwark against political prosecutions knowing any defendant facing a loss of liberty can demand 12 citizens sit in judgment. As a further precaution, the defendant through counsel participates in their selection. From what I hear from the right, jury trials are no longer fair because Trump was convicted. If you followed the evidence produced and Trump’s feeble attempt to discredit the prosecution, a conviction was likely unless Trump had gotten a sycophant on the panel.

I should not be surprised that in the eyes of much of the far right jury trials are now suspect just as elections are now “fraudulent.” The right has had four years and nearly unlimited resources to discover the fraud that many still think cost Trump the election. Crickets. It should also be noted they contend the fraud mostly happened in Republican-controlled states. More crickets. Four years later, there is no evidence the outcome of the election was not correct. What has happened is Fox News agreed to pay $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems last year to protect Fox hosts from having to admit to lying to their audience so as not to lose viewers hearing the truth they could not handle.

So now a sizable percentage of the population does not trust elections or jury trials because our national prevaricator says so. What evidence does he produce? None. Just name-calling and false statements as to the origin of the prosecution. No facts are required for the MAGA right. As an American who, in part because of my legal education, has a deep love for this country and the principles upon which it was founded, I am angry and resentful that Trump’s lies are undermining processes that are the foundation of our democracy. I resent the Republicans who line up behind him in an attempt to further their interests when in the past the Constitution and rule of law were the guides for determining what is right or wrong. Now they unquestioningly adopt the lies of a cult leader to curry favor. I am also angered by my fellow citizens who have so little regard for our institutions and the dedicated individuals who keep them going that facts and evidence can be disregarded if Trump deems them invalid because they interfere with him getting what he wants.

Clearly, we have issues that Congress and President Joe Biden have to address, but we need to get back to discussing the issues at hand and not just hating the other political party. That has been fueled by Trump who has never told me what he plans to do to address the problems he, of course, claims Biden created. He promised better health care and an infrastructure plan, and we got tax cuts. He did nothing about the border having two years in office with a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and then stopped the best plan Congress proposed when he needed the issue for the election.

You would think that alone would convince everyone of Trump’s priorities but as I am learning, for Trump supporters, the facts do not matter.

— Gerald Walter Soukup, Nottingham