According to a Newsweek story, the judge overseeing the hush money case of former President Donald Trump sided with his legal team in a decision on Thursday that will allow them access to jurors’ private information.
According to the publication, Judge Juan Merchan’s decision was made in response to several potential jurors who had concerns about their identities being revealed and their private information being leaked.
“Merchan sided with Trump’s attorneys on Thursday, concurring that knowledge of the prospective jurors’ prior and present employers was “essential,” but that the press did not need to make those details public,” the story stated.
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Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office suggested that jurors not respond to two of the list’s “most identifying” questions. The 3A and 3 inquiries ask about the juror’s previous and current employers, respectively.
On Thursday, Trump returned to the Manhattan Criminal Court to continue the hush money case jury selection process. Despite the fact that seven jurors had been chosen earlier in the week, one of them had reservations on Thursday over impartiality. The juror mentioned how outside influences from friends and family had affected her capacity to render an unbiased verdict.
Merchan chastised the media after she was fired, saying, “We just lost what would have been a very good juror for this case.”
Another person who had been “selected on Tuesday” later returned to the court to voice their “annoyance” with the volume of information that had been made public. He was also pardoned, according to Newsweek.
Adam Klasfeld, a contributor for MSNBC, claims that Merchan spoke with the media right after that juror was dismissed. According to him, revealing too much of the jurors’ personal information “defeats the purpose” of their anonymity, which is intended to protect them from outside pressures and guarantee their safety.
Merchan stated, “The press is definitely allowed and able to write about anything that’s on the record, because it’s on the record.” “However, I’m ordering the press to just use common sense.”
Twelve jurors and one alternate remained on the jury by the conclusion of the day. In order to guarantee that Monday’s opening statements can go forward as scheduled, the court hopes to choose the final five alternates by Friday.
