Trump to face anonymous jury in high-profile New York defamation trial
Send a link to a friend
[March 24, 2023]
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday said Donald Trump will get
an anonymous jury in rape accuser E. Jean Carroll's upcoming defamation
trial, citing the threat of juror harassment, including by supporters of
the former U.S. president.
Saying "this is a unique case," U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in
Manhattan said the names, addresses and places of employment of
prospective jurors for the former Elle magazine columnist's April 25
trial against Trump will be kept secret.
He also said jurors will be transported together to and from the
courthouse, and looked after by U.S. marshals during breaks in the
trial.
Kaplan said the need for juror anonymity reflected the "unprecedented
circumstances in which this trial will take place, including the
extensive pretrial publicity and a very strong risk that jurors will
fear harassment, unwanted invasions of their privacy, and retaliation."
Trump's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lawyers for Carroll, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/24/images/ads/current/chicagost_sda_SFARM_2023.png)
Kaplan had asked Trump and Carroll earlier this month whether they
objected to an anonymous jury. Neither did.
Carroll has sued Trump twice for defamation over his denials of her
claim that he raped her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman
department store dressing room in Manhattan.
The April 25 trial stemmed from an October 2022 post by Trump on his
Truth Social media platform.
Trump maintained that he did not know Carroll, that she made up the rape
claim to promote her upcoming memoir, and that the claim was a "hoax,"
"lie," "con job" and "complete scam."
Carroll's lawsuit also includes a battery claim under New York's Adult
Survivors Act, which lets sexual abuse survivors sue their alleged
attackers even if statutes of limitations have run out.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/24/images/ads/current/applegate_sda_SFARM_2023.png)
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/032423PIX/news_u93.jpg)
E. Jean Carroll arrives for her hearing
at federal court during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., October
21, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/24/images/ads/current/graue_lda_SFARM_2023.png)
'HARASSMENT OR WORSE'
In his decision, Kaplan cited Trump's March 18 call for protest if
he were indicted in a Manhattan's district attorney case for
covering up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before
the 2016 election.
Kaplan said Trump's reaction "has been perceived by some as an
incitement to violence," and said some people charged over the Jan.
6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol "rightly or wrongly" attributed
their actions to incitement by Trump.
The judge also said Trump has "repeatedly" attacked courts, judges,
law enforcement and even individual jurors.
These, the judge said, included the forepersons of the grand jury
looking into whether Trump tried to sway the 2020 election results
in Georgia, and the jury at longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone's
2019 obstruction trial.
"If jurors' identities were disclosed, there would be a strong
likelihood of unwanted media attention to the jurors, influence
attempts, and/or of harassment or worse of jurors by supporters of
Mr. Trump," Kaplan wrote.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/24/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
Two media outlets objected to an anonymous jury, but Kaplan said
juror safety outweighed their interest in learning jurors'
identities.
Carroll filed her other defamation lawsuit in November 2019, five
months after Trump first denied the rape occurred and said she made
it up. Earlier this week, Kaplan indefinitely postponed the
scheduled April 10 trial in that case.
The case is Carroll v Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District
of New York, No 22-10016.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan
Oatis)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |