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Trump’s jury only has the verdict sheet and a laptop full of evidence in the deliberation room.
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They must check the ‘Not Guilty’ or ‘Guilty’ boxes in 34 cases of falsification of corporate documents.
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They will not receive a copy of the judge’s hours-long spoken instructions on the underlying law.
After four weeks of testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses — plus hundreds of pieces of evidence and eight hours of closing arguments — the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president now has a deliberating jury.
Donald Trump’s potential criminal record is held by seven men and five women, a majority group made up of white collars, including three men with a financial background and two men who are lawyers.
Jurors listened intently for just over an hour Wednesday morning — with some taking brief notes — as the judge described the law to them before sending them to a deliberation room next to the courtroom.
Jurors were required to leave their cellphones in the custody of court officials before beginning their work.
“I’m going to ask you to come out now and begin your deliberations,” New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said at 11:28 a.m. in his parting address to the jury.
Two jurors – a man who works as a security engineer and a woman who works as a software engineer – volunteered to learn to operate the laptop on which they can view samples while they deliberate.
The laptop contains no further data and is not connected to the internet.
Finally, six deputies – five women and one man – were asked to wait in a separate room. “Perhaps there will be a need for you at some point during the deliberation,” the judge told them.
Here are the documents that will guide the Trump jury’s decisions in New York’s historic hush money trial.
The verdict sheet
The verdict sheet is the only paper document that the jurors have with them in the deliberation room. It instructs them to check “Not Guilty” or “Guilty” on each of 34 counts of a single charge: falsifying business records in the first degree.
The court staff has promised to give us a blank copy of the judgment sheet. We will update this post as soon as we have it.
Each of the 34 counts relates to a different invoice, check and general ledger entry that Trump allegedly allowed to appear in the Trump Organization’s business records during 2017, his first year in office.
Forging business documents in the first degree
Prosecutors say Trump arranged for 34 corporate records to be falsified as part of an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.
Prosecutors say the data obscures the true purpose of the $130,000 in “legal fee” reimbursements paid in 2017 to Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen.
In reality, Cohen was secretly reimbursed for his hush money spending on Stormy Daniels, a payment that silenced the porn star just 11 days before the 2016 election, prosecutors allege.
Merchan read to jurors from the standard jury indictment for misdemeanor falsifying corporate records.
The jury settles the score
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan spoke to jurors for more than an hour Wednesday morning, slowly describing to them the laws that will inform their verdicts.
Read the judge’s “jury assignment” here.
During the arraignment, Merchan warned jurors to be wary of any “implicit bias” about groups of people and the suspect himself.
They were also reminded that prosecutors bear the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and must consider only testimony, evidence and attorney determinations to reach a verdict – and not the possibility of punishment.
“The suspect does not have to prove he is not guilty,” he reminded jurors. “The suspect does not have to prove or disprove anything.”
Finally, the jurors were instructed on the underlying laws and their definitions.
Chief among these laws is Section 17-152 of the New York Election Code. Business Insider last month detailed this important but rarely used state election conspiracy law.
To reach a conviction, jurors must find that Trump falsified business records to conceal an attempted violation of 17-152.
And to find that Trump attempted to violate 17-152, jurors must find that he attempted to commit one of three additional underlying violations. These are the federal Election Campaign Financing Act, a supplemental New York corporate fraud law, and a violation of tax laws at the city, state, or federal level.
The judge told the jurors that they were not allowed to bring a written copy of the indictment into the deliberation room.
“You may, however, request that I read them in whole or in part, as many times as you wish,” he told them. “And I will do that with great pleasure.”
Defense attorneys, prosecutors and Trump himself were instructed not to leave the courthouse during deliberations.
Trump sat quietly during the judge’s instructions, leaning back in his chair, closing his eyes and resting his hands in his lap. On at least one occasion he appeared to be stretching in his chair.
As Merchan sent jurors into the deliberation room, Trump appeared relaxed — even jovial — as he joked with his son, Donald Trump Jr., as he left the courtroom to await his verdict.
Once in the hallway, he sat outside the courtroom with his assistants for three minutes before walking to the cameras and complaining about the judge.
Read the original article on Business Insider
