NEW YORK — Jury deliberations in Donald Trump’s criminal trial will enter their second day on Thursday, after the panel began the heavy task a day earlier.
Deliberations concluded Wednesday with the panel asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to repeat excerpts of crucial testimony from two key witnesses: former National Enquirer editor David Pecker and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. Jurors also requested a repeat of jury instructions.
The jury deliberated for about 4 1/2 hours.
Deliberations in the hush money case will continue for as long as the jury needs. Although the court’s standard day is 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a lunch break, Merchan told the panel it could run until 6 p.m. if it wished.
At the center of the allegations are reimbursements paid to Cohen for a secret $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Prosecutors say the refunds were falsely recorded as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.
Trump faces 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records, charges that are punishable by up to four years in prison. He denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
The case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to come to trial and is the first criminal case against a former US president.
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Here are the latest:
A guilty verdict would provide a stunning legal reckoning for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee as Donald Trump tries to reclaim the White House.
An acquittal would represent a major victory for Trump and encourage him in the campaign.
Because verdicts must be unanimous, it is also possible for the case to end in a mistrial if the jury is unable to reach a consensus after days of deliberations.
Trump struck a pessimistic tone after leaving the courtroom after reading jury instructions, repeating his claims of a “very unfair trial” and saying: “Mother Teresa couldn’t beat these charges, but we’ll see. We’ll see how we do.”
The jury in Donald Trump’s trial is made up of 18 Manhattan residents.
The main jury is made up of seven men and five women. There are also six alternate jurors who heard testimony but will not participate in deliberations unless one of the main jurors needs to withdraw or is removed.
The jury represents a diverse cross-section of the county and comes from diverse professional backgrounds, including a sales professional, a software engineer, a security engineer, a teacher, a speech pathologist, several lawyers, an investment banker and a retired wealth manager .
The names of the jurors are being kept confidential.
Jurors in Donald Trump’s secret trial are expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday after receiving instructions from the judge on the law governing the case and what they can consider as they strive to reach a verdict in the first criminal case against a former US president.
The panel has a heavy task ahead of it – deciding whether to convict or acquit Trump of some, all or none of the 34 criminal charges he is accused of.
But what needed to be proven for a conviction?
To convict Trump of the crime of falsifying business records, prosecutors had to convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely, but also did so with intent. of committing or concealing another crime. Any verdict must be unanimous.
Jury deliberations take place in secret, in a room specifically reserved for jurors and through an intentionally opaque process.
Jurors can communicate with the court through notes that ask the judge, for example, for legal advice or for specific excerpts of testimony to be read to them. But without knowing what the judges are saying to each other, it’s difficult to read much into the meaning of any score.
No one knows how long the jury in Donald Trump’s silence case will deliberate, and there is no time limit either. The jury must consider 34 counts of falsifying business records and that could take some time. A verdict may not come until the end of the week.
To reach a verdict on any charge, whether guilty or innocent, all 12 jurors must agree on the decision for the judge to accept it.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
