In a courtroom sketch, trial lawyer Barry Pollock is seen flanking his client as he prepares to argue a controversial legal defense. Pollock is expected to claim that Nicolás Maduro, as head of state, is entitled to immunity, a tactic that legal experts say may not hold.
Typically, a head of state cannot be prosecuted, but an important caveat applies: the individual must be recognized as such by the US State Department. In this case, the department does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela. That distinction is central to the indictment, which explicitly refers to him as the country’s “illegitimate ruler.”
Pollock, a prominent Washington-based lawyer, is best known for representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has over thirty years of experience defending high-profile clients, including government officials and top executives. The judge he must persuade is Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a senior judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Judge Hellerstein has drawn international attention and is well known for presiding over sensitive cases. His past work includes dossiers linked to the September 11 attacks and the Stormy Daniels hush money trial, in which he twice rejected Donald Trump’s attempts to move the case to federal court.
Vocabulary:
• courtroom sketch (noun): a drawing of people in court
• trial lawyer (noun): a lawyer who argues cases in court
• flank (verb): stand next to someone on one side
• head of state (noun): the official leader of a country
• immunity (noun): legal protection from being prosecuted
• caveat (noun): an important warning or condition
• State Department (noun): the US government department for foreign relations
• legitimate (adj): officially accepted as lawful
• indictment (noun): an official legal accusation
• sensitive (adj): politically or legally delicate
• transfer (verb): move a case to another court
• federal court (noun): a national-level court in the US