By Nathaniel DePaul
Photo Credit: Richel Boroh / ASP
Student Association President Desann Chin-Carty leads her defense during her impeachment hearing.
The Student Association senate voted to impeach SA President Desann Chin-Carty, which concluded the fourth session of her hearing early Wednesday morning.
In a 30-4-3 vote (a two-thirds threshold was needed), the senate approved the second article of impeachment for neglect of duty, after rejecting the first article, abuse of power, by a vote of 15-20-2.
From here, the recommendation of impeachment and removal will be given the the SA Supreme Court, where a trial will be held.
If four of the seven members of the Supreme Court vote to impeach, then President Carty will be removed and replaced by Vice President Ariel Nunez.
The process to remove the president began in December of 2019, when the SA Board of Finance discovered purchases made on the president’s official credit card that they deemed “questionable.”
After conducting an investigation that lasted several months from late last semester until early this year, the BoF decided to recommend the president’s impeachment to the Senate, delivering a 139 page report that painstakingly detailed each purchase considered grievous enough to be impeachable.
After a presentation of their findings by the BoF to the senate body and a subsequent defense given by President Carty, the senate voted to hold a hearing 36-3-1 to hold an impeachment hearing.
Over the course of four senate sessions, President Carty’s defense team and the senate’s impeachment managers laid out their cases for why the president should or should not remain in her position, respectively.
It is unclear as of now when the impeachment trial will begin.