What's New
Donald Trump's lawyers claim they have evidence of "gross jury misconduct" in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial. In May, the jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide his payments to Daniels, an adult film star.
On December 3, Trump's lawyers wrote privately to trial judge, Juan Merchan, to alert him to information they had received from a juror on the case.
On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan ordered that a heavily redacted version of their letter be released to the public, warning that an uncensored version of the letter could put jurors' safety at risk.
Why It Matters
On Monday, Merchan also ruled that Trump does not have presidential immunity from sentencing in the case. That means that Trump could potentially be facing jail time when he leaves the White House in 2029. If he can prove jury misconduct, Merchan or an appeal court would likely bring the case to a close.
What To Know
A New York judge can conduct an inquiry to find out if a juror has been trying to unduly influence the other jurors or has been conducting a "conscious, contrived experiment" to find out about the issues in the case, without notifying the court.
According to the New York Court rules of evidence for judges and attorneys, a judge may call jurors to give evidence if he or she suspects that there has been misconduct sufficiently serious to have affected the outcome of the case.
"In an inquiry into the validity of a verdict, a juror may present in an affidavit and testify that extraneous prejudicial information had been brought to the jury's attention, or that any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon a juror or the jury," it states.
This could include "that the juror or another juror acquired information directly material to a point in issue in the trial by engaging in a conscious, contrived experiment, as opposed to having gleaned information from everyday experience."
What People Are Saying
New York attorney, Colleen Kerwick, told Newsweek that New York Criminal Procedure Law Section 330.30 makes it clear that vague claims of jury misconduct will not be tolerated. Trump will have to come up with specific information before the judge will act.
"He'd need to have specific evidence, versus conjecture or surmise, for a jury misconduct argument," Kerwick said.
What Happens Next
Merchan made it clear that the letter from Trump's lawyer is incomplete and needs to be refiled.
He said it contained "unsworn and contested statements."
"Allegations of juror misconduct should be thoroughly investigated. However, this Court is prohibited from deciding such claims on the basis of mere hearsay and conjecture," he wrote.
He said he will investigate if Trump's lawyers filed a motion to overturn the verdict based on juror misconduct.
"Such a motion 'must contain sworn allegations,'" Merchan warned.
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