Pace University News

The Maxwell case would likely have a different outcome, said Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, who has written about jury misconduct. He noted that the jury acquitted Maxwell on one of the counts, suggesting they were responsible in their deliberations. "It's something that should have been revealed, but doesn't seem to have compromised the verdict," he said.

A “harmless error” is not enough to overturn a conviction, Bennett Gershman, a professor at Pace Law School, told Reuters.

Even if an appellate court agreed that Nathan made a mistake, Maxwell's lawyers would need to show that it mattered to the outcome of the case. A "harmless error" is not enough to overturn a conviction, according to Bennett Gershman, a professor at Pace Law School. "It's a very heavy burden," Gershman said, adding that federal appellate courts tend to defer to trial judges.

Katrina Fischer Kuh, a professor at Pace Law School, noted that in Rapanos, the high court split 4-1-4, with Justice Scalia authoring the plurality decision that interpreted "waters of the U.S." and "navigable waters" narrowly. Since Rapanos, however, courts have relied on Justice Kennedy's solo concurrence that took a broader view. "A majority in Sackett could adopt Justice Scalia's definition and thereby shrink the reach of the Clean Water Act, particularly to wetlands," Kuh said. "Despite the import of the underlying question of statutory interpretation and clear disagreement in lower courts, procedural aspects of the case would seem to weigh against granting certiorari."

Pace Law School professor Bennett Gershman, a former prosecutor and author of a review of the former New York City mayor's false 2020 election claims, says there is a good chance Giuliani will be indicted on charges of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.