Hush Money judge cracks down on media for juror’s fear of being exposed

NEW YORK — Reporters covering former President Trump’s criminal trial in New York were admonished Thursday by the judge overseeing the proceedings following the dismissal of a juror who expressed frustration with extensive media coverage of the case.

The problem led Judge Juan Merchan to instruct the press to stop publicizing the employers and physical characteristics of potential jurors, after several media outlets published stories describing those selected, with those details being released in open court.

Another selected juror was dismissed soon after for seemingly unrelated reasons, but they also expressed frustrations to the judge with the public attention.

“We just lost probably what probably would have been a very good juror for this case, and the first thing she said was that she was scared and intimidated by the press, by all the press and everything that had happened,” Merchan said. to reporters.

“So really, this is just a matter of common sense and I ask that you follow that,” the judge continued.

The loss of jurors marked a temporary setback, but proceedings recovered hours later when the full jury of 12 New Yorkers — and the first alternate — convened at the end of the trial’s third day.

Merchan indicated he expects the process to conclude on Friday, after the remaining five alternates have been selected.

The warning highlighted the difficulty of selecting a jury in a high-profile case, where the information the public receives is largely limited to what reporters publish. Cameras are not permitted inside the courthouse except for a few minutes at the beginning of each day to capture the scene.

Trump’s trial in New York marks his first criminal trial and the first time a former US president has been tried on criminal charges. Trump is accused of falsifying business records in connection with a secret deal made with an adult film actress before the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty and insisted the records were true.

The judge previously ordered an anonymous jury in the historic trial to protect the safety of New Yorkers, like Trump’s two civil jury trials that took place last year.

But unlike those trials, Merchan’s questionnaire for potential jurors included questions about their current and former employers. The questions, among others, led the New Yorkers, in open court, to provide very specific details about their lives.

The former president has historically launched attacks against people involved in his case, sometimes resulting in threats to their safety.

The first juror dismissed Thursday expressed concern about her ability to be impartial after she said she received questions from friends, family and colleagues about whether she was selected for Trump’s jury based on media reports.

“I don’t believe at this point that I can be fair and impartial and let outside influences not affect my decision-making in court,” the woman said.

The judge replied: “Thank you. I’m sorry you had to go through this.

The second dismissed juror, also chosen the day before, had a more complicated story. Prosecutors signaled to the judge that they had found an article describing the arrest of a person with the same name in the 1990s and evidence that the juror’s wife was previously involved in a corruption probe.

All jurors were asked, as part of a 42-question survey, whether they or anyone close to them had ever been accused or convicted of a crime. The prosecutor’s office suggested that the juror may have lied about this issue.

The juror was interviewed a second time on the judge’s bench, out of earshot of reporters inside the courtroom. However, these journalists noted that most of the questions seemed to come from the prosecution side, and some answers drew laughter from Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche.

Once the sidebar ended, Merchan appeared to address the juror sternly and shortly thereafter dismissed him. The judge did not address the motive, but indicated that the juror “expressed annoyance” with the extent of the information published about him.

News organizations this week published varying degrees of detail about who is participating in the panel. The Hill published some details that Merchan disagreed with, but chose to withhold certain information to maintain the anonymity of the jurors’ identities.

The judge did not target any specific media outlet on Thursday, but said the press in general went too far, calling it a “problem” and effectively imposing a gag order on journalists covering the trial.

“There’s a reason why this is an anonymous jury and why we took the steps we did, and it defeats the purpose of this, when so much information is released that it’s very, very easy for anyone to identify who the jurors are,” he said. Merchandise.

New York State’s law regarding court media coverage is among the strictest in the country. It is one of two states that still bans the use of cameras in court.

Because of this, any information that emerges in the courtroom where Trump’s historic trial is taking place must be transmitted second-hand, through reporters, to the public.

Merchan said the press can “write about anything that is said officially” but advised reporters to apply “common sense.”

“If we can’t do that, if we can’t deliver on that, we’re going to have to look at what else we need to do to make sure jurors stay safe,” Merchan added.