Trump’s hush-money trial saw the dismissal of over 50 prospective jurors
After acknowledging that they were unable to serve as fair and impartial jurors, more than half of the potential jurors in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial were quickly removed from consideration.
Judge Juan Merchan presided over the jury selection process on the first day of the criminal case in New York, selecting 96 individuals, at least 50 of whom disqualified themselves right away.
Justice Merchan questioned the prospective jurors, saying, “If you have an honest, legitimate, good-faith reason to believe you cannot serve on this case or cannot be fair and impartial, please let me know now.”
A potential juror was overheard saying, “I just couldn’t do it,” on Monday as she was leaving the Manhattan court.
According to CNN, Mr. Trump‘s defense team had anticipated that about forty individuals would be disqualified due to their neutrality.
His defense will include bringing up the issues of impartiality and the former president’s right to a fair trial in New York, a state that leans heavily Democratic in the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump disputes that he fabricated corporate documents to hide the payment of hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The office of the Manhattan District Attorney claims that Mr. Trump gave his former attorney, Michael Cohen, instructions to pay Ms. Daniels $130,000 (£104,000) in exchange for her quiet on an alleged sexual assault.His goal, according to the prosecution, was to “unlawfully influence” the 2016 election. Trump entered a not-guilty plea.
After the “impartial” jury pool members raised their hands, Justice Merchan formally excused each of them individually.
42 questions were posed to the remaining participants, including topics such as news consumption patterns, attendance at Trump events, and book reading of the former president. sexual contact that happened, which the previous president disputes.
A Manhattanite man claimed to be a Wall Street Journal reader. Another resident of the Upper West Side of New York City mentioned that one of his radio listening habits was to tune in to whatever was on while taking a shower. Neither was disregarded.
The following question was posed to a woman: “Would your ability to serve as a fair and unbiased juror be compromised by any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about former President Donald Trump or the fact that he is currently running for president?”
When she answered “yes,” the court dismissed her. Because this is such a high-profile case, all jurors will stay nameless. A six-week trial period is anticipated.
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