A jury will deliberate in a rape case attributed to Donald Trump

The people’s jury will discuss the case of rape and defamation of the former president from tomorrow, Tuesday Donald Trump in NYafter the defense and prosecution finished their closing arguments on Monday.

Judge Lewis Kaplanwho presided over the court during the two weeks of the trial, called the jurors at 10 a.m. tomorrow to read them instructions (mainly confidentiality and no exposure to programs, readings or comments that might influence their opinions) before leaving them to deliberate on Trump’s guilt or innocence.

In this final session, in which the defense and the prosecution had one last chance to convince the jury, both insisted on the issue of reputation as the one that really motivated the writer E. Jean Carroll to denounce the alleged rape that took place in the mid-1990s, but which she only disclosed in 2019 in a newspaper article.

According to Carroll, Trump, who was her acquaintance at the time, followed her to pick out clothes at a department store, and convinced her to go into the fitting room together, where he raped her without any witnesses; When she left, she didn’t report it to the police, but she admitted it to two friends, who advised her not to report it because otherwise he might “bury her” with “hundreds of lawyers” who worked for him.

ALLEGATION: CARROLL WANTS HIS GOOD NAME BACK

Lawyer Roberta Kaplanfrom the prosecuting team, insisted on her client’s motives, according to the media present in the room: “For Jean Carroll, this appeal has nothing to do with money,” she insisted, it is about “restore his good name”he said, referring to the various characterizations Carroll has received from Trump — as a liar or mentally ill, among others — since learning of the lawsuit.

Kaplan again referred to Trump’s commented statement that Carroll was “not (his) type,” and reminded the jury of Trump’s reaction when he saw an old photo in which he mistook Carroll for his own ex-wife. Marla Trump.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the lawyer in a solemn tone, “this is a photograph. The truth is that E. Jean Carroll, a former cheerleader and Miss Indiana (college), was just Donald Trump’s type.”

In addition, Kaplan drew attention to the fact that Trump’s legal team did not bring witnesses, and he did not want to appear, but left a videotaped statement, due to which, as he said, “I am a witness against myself.”

He also refuted some of the defense’s arguments, such as the fact that Carroll admitted that he did not scream during the alleged rape, stating that this is the most common attitude in a traumatic event such as a sexual assault.

DEFENSE: JUST LOOKING FOR GLORY

Trump’s defense also insisted on the idea of ​​reputation, in his case to show that what drove Carroll to condemn him was a quest for fame, even if that meant condemning facts that didn’t exist.

“The facts are stubborn,” attorney Joe Tacopina told jurors. “(Carroll’s testimony) is not credible.”

According to what was claimed during the trial, Tacopina said that the whole story about the rape in the dressing room of the department store was a fabrication because he wanted to take advantage of a certain anti-Trump climate to sell the books, as it was done. clear – he claimed – in an email exchange with her friend Lisa Birnbach.

“It became her way of life,” Tacopina insisted. “She became a star.”

The lawyer did not miss Trump’s “rude” and “brutal” words on the recording heard during the trial when he said that a famous person can dispose of a woman to his heart’s content and grab her “by the cunt” (sic).

“He said that,” Tacopina acknowledged, “but that doesn’t make Ms. Carroll’s incredible story a credible story,” he recalled, according to reporters in the room.

And as if to flatter the jury and warn them of their responsibility, he told them, “This jury is blessed with great street smarts and we know the difference between fact and fiction,” he began, before reminding them that their decision would be in accompanied by the rest of the jury. their lives: “You and only you are the only ones authorized to guarantee that the rule of law is respected here.

Starting tomorrow, the jury can decide on the former president’s innocence or guilt at any time, but Trump, if found guilty, would only have to pay compensation and not go to jail because it is a civil case.