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In the criminal hush money trial against Donald Trump in New York, a juror was lost on Thursday due to privacy concerns.
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“I don’t believe I can be fair and unbiased at this point,” the woman told the judge.
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The judge scolded the press for revealing too much information about jurors in the historic trial.
A juror who had already served in Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial in New York was excused Thursday after expressing concerns that her identity might be revealed to the public.
Judge of the New York Supreme Court Juan Merchanwho is overseeing the landmark case, said in court Thursday that the woman, known as “Juror No. 2,” called the court Wednesday and said she was “concerned about her ability to be fair and impartial” in the trial after she slept. am working on it.
“Just yesterday I had friends and family pushing things on my phone about questioning my identity as a juror,” the juror then told the judge in the courtroom.
“I don’t believe I can be fair and unbiased at this point,” the woman explained before Merchan dismissed her from the case.
Merchan then scolded the press for revealing details about the woman during the jury selection process this week.
“There is a reason why this is an anonymous jury, and we took the actions we did,” Merchan said as he addressed the press, encouraging them to use “common sense.”
“The purpose of it is defeated when so much information is put out that makes it very easy to find out who they are,” the judge said.
Merchan said the juror who was excused “said she was scared and intimidated by the entire press.”
“We just lost what might be a very good judge,” Merchan added.
There are now six jurors present. The jury selection process continues.
Read the original article on Business Insider
