Jury selection for the case of E. Jean Carroll

[ad_1]

Writer E. Jean Carroll arrived as jury selection was set to begin in the defamation case against former US President Donald Trump brought by Carroll, who has accused him of raping her in the 1990s, in Manhattan Federal Court , New York, April 25, 2023 .

Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images

A federal trial began Tuesday in the civil case of a New York writer, E. Jean Carroll, who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

Six men and three women were selected for the jury in a selection process earlier in Manhattan federal court.

“He sexually assaulted her,” Carroll’s attorney Shawn Crowley told jurors in an opening statement. “Donald Trump attacked him in 1996 and discredited him when he said he did it.”

“We must hold him accountable for what he did in the dressing room and for attacking his credibility,” Crowley said.

“Donald Trump assaulted Carroll but you will also hear that she is not the only one he has assaulted,” the attorney said, referring to other women who have claimed Trump groped them against their will.

Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, in his own statement, urged jurors to put aside any negative feelings they may have about the former president and focus on the evidence, which he said would exonerate Trump.

“People have strong feelings about Donald Trump and it’s OK to feel that, Tacopina said. “It’s OK to hate Donald Trump and there’s a time and place to express that. In an election, not in a court of law.”

“The evidence will show you what it is [Carroll] what’s being done is a travesty of justice,” Tacopina said. “He’s doing it for money, political reasons and status and in doing so he’s belittling the real rape victims and trivializing their pain and exploiting them.”

Earlier, in the jury selection process, a female potential juror who said Trump had been treated unfairly by the press, that she watches Fox News and was married to a minister, was not selected.

Ten potential jurors from the first group of 48 prospective panel members were immediately dismissed after they agreed to Judge Lewis Kaplan’s question: “Is there anything about the nature of this case or the parties that would make it difficult to you. to give a fair and impartial verdict?”

None of the prospective jurors said the fact that Carroll came forward with his allegation more than 20 years after the alleged incident made him less credible.

Carroll was in the courtroom when jury selection began, and plans to be there every day during the trial, his attorneys told Kaplan.

Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was not in court, and it is unclear if he will be during the case. His attorney, Tacopina, told the judge that the decision on whether Trump will appear at trial will be made on a day-to-day basis.

The trial begins three weeks after Trump was arraigned in Manhattan state court on a 34-count criminal indictment accusing him of falsifying business records in connection with a 2016 hush money payment to a porn star by his lawyer before the presidential election that year.

Trump, who has pleaded not guilty in that case, is the first former president to face criminal prosecution.

He is under criminal investigation by federal authorities in connection with his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss, and his retention of government records after leaving the White House in early 2021. A state prosecutor in Georgia will consider whether to criminally charge him and his allies in their attempt to undo his 2020 election loss in that state.

Trump has denied Carroll’s claim that he raped her after a chance encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store, which is just down the road from his residence and business headquarters in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

She is suing him for alleged rape under a new New York law that within a year allowed complainants in sexual misconduct cases to bring civil suits. -claims are usually barred by the statute of limitations.

Carroll also sued Trump for allegedly defaming him last October by saying his story was a hoax, and that he changed his account of the incident while detailing it in an interview with CNN.

The trial deals with only one of two defamation cases Carroll has pending against Trump. Another, filed in 2019, related to allegedly defamatory statements Trump made as president about his rape claim when he wrote it in an article in New York Magazine.

The other case has been delayed by legal arguments over whether Trump could be prosecuted for making such statements while serving in the White House.

Kaplan said the current trial will last five to 10 days, and the jury will remain anonymous.

CNBC Politics

Read more CNBC political coverage:

Jurors will be picked up by court marshals at a meeting place and taken to court each day and returned to that point at the end of the day.

“There has been a fair amount of media attention and we want to protect you from unwanted attention and harassment,” Kaplan told prospective jurors.

The judge told the jurors not to use real names when they were together. “If you’re a Bill, you can be a John for a few days,” Kaplan said.

Prospective jurors were asked during the selection process if they knew Trump, Carroll, their attorneys or potential witnesses. None of the jurors indicated that they knew either of the parties.

Every prospective juror is registered to vote, but many did not vote in 2016 and 2020, when Trump was the Republican presidential nominee.

A prospective juror indicated that he had voted in both elections, and that he had contributed to a political action committee supporting Trump. But he said he would be impartial if he sat for the trial.

Eight prospective jurors said they had read, seen or heard about the case. One of them was allowed from consideration.

When asked if anyone thought the 2020 election was stolen as Trump claimed since he lost to President Joe Biden that year no one raised their hand.

Apparently, no one has claimed to follow the conspiracy theory QAnon, whose supporters tend to support Trump, or the Oath Keepers or Antifa.

A woman was acquitted in the service when she said she believed in the #MeToo movement, which in recent years has contributed to many high-profile men losing their jobs after being accused of sexual misconduct.

Twelve of the prospective jurors said they watched Trump’s former reality business show, “The Apprentice.”

They all agreed that the victim of sexual assault is not responsible or has to prove with evidence what happened. When asked if anyone had special education on harassment or sexual assault, one man stood up and said he worked in a human resources department at a company, but he could remain neutral.

[ad_2]