The names of the jurors will be kept secret in the civil trial in a rape case against former US President Donald Trump, a judge ruled Thursday, citing “a very strong risk” of harassment.
Anonymous jurors are unusual, particularly outside of criminal cases.
The Associated Press and the New York Daily News objected to the attempt to hide the identities of the jurors in the trial because of the claim by columnist E. Jean Carroll, denied by Trump, that the Republican raped her in the 1990s.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said he was concerned that jurors would be subjected to unwanted media attention and “harassment or worse” from supporters of a president who violated judicial process, or from people dissatisfied with any verdict that could be followed.
“Based on the unprecedented circumstances in which this trial will take place, including extensive pre-trial publicity and a very high risk that jurors will fear harassment, unwanted invasions of their privacy, and retaliation,” he wrote. Kaplan, “there are strong reasons to believe that the jury needs protection.”
Carroll’s attorneys declined to comment. Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, said she did not want jurors “to feel any outside pressure or influence” at the trial, which is set to begin late next month.
“Anonymity will help ensure that their decision is based solely on the facts presented to them,” Habba argued, insisting that those facts would “irrefutably exonerate” Trump.
There is a history of federal courts considering jurors’ names to be public record, reasoning that such disclosure removes potential public suspicion about the selection process, but courts have also allowed exceptions to protect the jury, sometimes in cases that involve charges of terrorism, organized crime or past jury tampering.
Carroll’s case involves an alleged rape. Trump denies sexual assault or even knowing her, repeatedly adding that she’s “not” the type of her.
The two were photographed together with their then-spouses at a social event in 1987, an image Trump explained as a momentary encounter he doesn’t remember and who misidentified Carroll as one of his ex-wives when he was shown the photo last year. , while he was being questioned under oath as part of the judicial process.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who claim to have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll did.
Source: TSF
