A verdict in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial could come as early as Thursday, after the jury was sent home Wednesday following four-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
Prosecutions and defense lawyers are now hashing out details in the court after the jury sent in two notes, and asked for testimony to be read back to them.
After six weeks and 22 witnesses, the panel of 12 Manhattan residents will decide if the 77-year-old will be the first former president guilty of a crime.
The jury is deciding their verdicts on 34 counts of falsifying business records, all of which Trump has pleaded not guilty to.
Jury deliberations got underway today and twelve New York jurors now hold the fate of former U.S. President Donald Trump in their hands.
Here were the big moments of the day:
- Jury Instructions: Judge Juan Merchan read through the jury instructions for the jurors in a calm and even tone. The judge told the jury to consider only the evidence and instructed them to set aside bias and opinions about the ex-president. Merchan then read through the law and the 34 charges against Trump. He also explained how deliberations would proceed.
- Deliberations begin: The twelve jurors were then escorted from the courtroom to begin deliberations. They deliberated for about four and a half hours on the first day of jury deliberations.
- Trump sets expectations: While the jury began deliberations, Trump spoke to the media where he slammed the whole case as ‘rigged’ and put the ‘conflicted’ judge on blast. He said ‘Mother Teresa could not beat those charges.’
- Jury sends two notes: As the jury deliberations continued into the afternoon, the jury sent two notes with requests to the judge. The first requested four pieces of testimony. The jury wants to rehear Pecker’s testimony about a phone conversation with Trump while he was in an investor meeting, about a decision regarding the Karen McDougal life rights deal, and about a Trump Tower meeting. They also want Michael Cohen’s testimony on the meeting. The jury also asked to rehear the jury instructions.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13471575/donald-trump-live-trial-updates-jury-deliberate-verdict.html
