Jury selection for former U.S President, Donald Trump’s hush money case faced some setbacks as it resumed for its third day on Thursday, April 18, 2024.
Two jurors were dismissed on Thursday.
The dismissals reduced the number of jurors who have been seated for the trial to five.
The jury selection process picked up momentum on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, with the selection of seven jurors.
However, on Thursday, Judge Juan Merchan revealed in court that one of the seven, a cancer nurse, had “conveyed that after sleeping on it overnight she had concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial in this case.”
Though jurors’ names are being kept confidential, the woman told the judge and the lawyers that she had doubts.
“Yesterday alone I had friends, colleagues and family push things to my phone regarding questioning my identity as a juror,” she said.
She added, “I don’t believe at this point that I can be fair and unbiased and let the outside influences not affect my decision making in the courtroom.”
After dismissing from the jury the nurse who had already been selected, Merchan ordered journalists in court not to report prospective jurors’ answers to questions about their current and former employers.
“We just lost, probably, what probably would have been a very good juror for this case, and the first thing that she said was she was afraid and intimidated by the press, all the press, and everything that had happened,” Merchan said after dismissing the juror.
A second seated juror was dismissed after prosecutors raised concerns that he may not have been honest in answering a jury selection question by saying that he had never been accused or convicted of a crime.
The process of picking a jury is a critical phase of any criminal trial but especially so when the defendant is a former President and the presumptive Republican nominee.
Prospective jurors have been grilled on their social media posts, personal lives and political views as the lawyers and judge search for biases that would prevent them from being impartial.
Thursday’s events laid bare the inherent challenges of selecting a jury for such a landmark, high-publicity case.
More than half the members of a group of 96 prospective jurors brought into the courtroom were dismissed on Thursday, most after saying they doubted their ability to be fair and impartial.
The seating of the full jury, whenever it happens, will set the stage for the trial.
Thirteen more jurors still need to be picked.
Prosecutors Say Trump Violated Gag Order Seven Times
Prosecutors told the Judge that they wanted Trump held in contempt and sanctioned for seven more posts they said violated his gag order.
The former President’s new posts came after the prosecutors initially sought a $3,000 fine on Monday, April 15, 2024, for three other Truth Social posts.
One links to an article calling Michael Cohen a “serial perjurer” and the case “an embarrassment for the New York legal system.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy also noted “the most disturbing post” that Trump posted on social media quoting Jesse Watters on Fox News that they are “catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge” in order to get on the jury.
“It’s ridiculous and has to stop,” Conroy stated.
The defense argued that reporting statements from others should not violate the gag order.
Judge Merchan did not make an immediate ruling, saying he will wait for a hearing on the prosecution’s request for contempt sanctions over Trump’s posts scheduled for April 23, 2024.
Judge Merchan had already scheduled a hearing for next week on the prosecution’s request for contempt sanctions over Trump’s posts.
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