Breaking

[TommyT139]

53. Not just magats - "abatement ab initio"

There was a lot of discussion when Trump got the 34 guilty verdicts, about how to refer to him. More importantly, Trump needs to be sentenced, in order to be able to appeal, in order to complete the court process. He is after all old, in poor health, and likely to walk past open windows.

Abatement ab initio refers to the rule stating, if a defendant dies while appealing their conviction, that conviction is vacated. This rule comes from the principle that a party who dies during the appeal process has unwillingly been stripped of their appellate rights and therefore abatement of the conviction preserves those rights.

Abatement ab initio has far-reaching effects on victims of wrongdoing who, due to the vacated conviction, are no longer entitled to whatever damages or compensation they were initially awarded. For example, in United States v. Estates of Parson, plaintiffs could not collect on the $1.3 million they were awarded due to defendant’s fraud because the defendant passed away while appealing. As a result, the continued existence of abatement ab initio is controversial.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/abatement

If I recall correctly, this was the situation in Massachusetts until the Aaron Hernandez case. In jail for murder, he committed suicide, so the verdict was essentially erased.