NEW YORK (AP) — Into court Donald TrumpThe hush-money lawsuit ordered the media Thursday not to report on where potential jurors have worked and to be careful about revealing information about those who will judge the former president.
Judge Juan Merchan acted after a juror was dismissed when she raised concerns about being “outed” for her role in the case after details about her became public.
The actions highlighted the difficulties of maintaining juror anonymity in a case that has generated widespread interest and heated opinions, while lawyers in an open courtroom must sift through as much information as possible to determine who to choose.
Despite the setback, 12 jurors were seated late Thursday for the landmark trial over a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election to prevent her from going public with her claims about a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied the meeting.
The dismissed juror told Merchan that friends, colleagues and family members had contacted her to ask if she was involved in the case. “I don’t believe I can be fair and unbiased at this point and not let outside influences influence my decision-making in the courtroom,” she said.
Merchan instructed reporters not to report this when potential jurors told the court their specific workplaces, past or present. That put journalists in the difficult position of not reporting what they heard in open court, and some media organizations considered whether to protest the fact that that responsibility fell on them.
Even if that specific information were not released, there was some concern that enough information about potential jurors would come out so that people could still identify them.
As an example of what’s going on, Politico on Thursday identified a potential juror as “a woman who lives in Manhattan and works as an asset manager.” She grew up in England and Hong Kong and lives with a self-employed boyfriend.
Another potential juror was identified as “an attorney for a major media company who lives in Gramercy Park.”
On Fox News Channel, host Jesse Watters did a segment with a jury consultant Wednesday night, in which he revealed details about people who had served on the jury and wondered whether some were “stealth liberals” bent on convicting Trump.
“This nurse scares me if I’m Trump,” he said. “She is from the Upper East Side, has a master’s degree, is not married, has no children, lives with her fiancé and gets her news from The New York Times and CNN.”
In addition to his command on employment history, Merchan said he asked the media to “simply apply common sense and refrain from writing about anything that has to do with physical descriptions, for example.”
He said “there was really no need” for the media to mention a widely reported fact that a juror speaks with an Irish accent.
Anonymous juries have been around for a long time, especially in cases involving terrorism and mafia, or when there has been a history of jury tampering. They have been ordered more frequently over the past two decades due to the increasing influence of social media and the anonymous hate speech sometimes associated with it. Typically, courtroom artists are told not to draw the face of any juror in their sketches; New York courts do not allow video coverage of trials.
During Trump’s defamation trial earlier this year in Manhattan federal court, jurors had their identity protections strengthened by a security-conscious judge who routinely did not allow anyone in his courtroom to have a cell phone, even if it was turned off. Jurors were driven to and from the courthouse by the U.S. Marshals Service and separated from the public during trial breaks.
In that case, when asked general questions about themselves during jury selection, potential jurors often gave vague answers that would have made it virtually impossible to learn much about them.
After the verdict in that case, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered the anonymous jury not to reveal the identities of the people with whom they served, and advised the jurors not to reveal their service. So far no one has come forward publicly.
New York criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby said New York state law requires trial attorneys to be given the names of jurors even if they are otherwise anonymous. However, he said that right could be overridden by the need to protect the safety of jurors.
As for the media, he said the judge has no control over what is reported, but he can impose severe restrictions on what reporters see and hear if necessary.
“There are actions the judge can take. Courts have extraordinary powers to protect jurors from tampering and intimidation. It’s really where a court’s power is at its peak,” Kuby said.
He said the ability of lawyers at Trump’s trial to research jurors’ social media history was important.
“Both sides have an interest in preventing dormant jurors from serving on the jury with their own agendas,” he said.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers, said the difficulty in the Trump trial is weeding out people with extreme views.
“Everyone across the country knows who Donald Trump is,” Rahmani said. “Some think he is a criminal traitor and insurgent. Others consider him a hero. There are not many people among them.”
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Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak and Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.
