Jury deliberations in criminal case involving Trump’s hush money has begun

The jury has started thinking about their decision on Wednesday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. The outcome of the trial is now in the hands of twelve New Yorkers who promised to be fair and unbiased.

A group of seven men and five women on the jury went to a private room before 11:30 am to start thinking about their decision in the first trial of a former U. SLeader of a country. The jurors’ talks will be private, but they can send notes to the judge to ask for a repeat of what was said or to see the evidence again. That’s also how they will tell the court about their decision, or if they can’t decide.

“I don’t have to decide if the evidence is true or not. ” “It belongs to you,” said Judge Juan M. Merchan spoke to the jury.

Trump is accused of lying about his business records to cover up bad stories about him during the 2016 election. He is facing 34 charges for this.

The crime is a serious one and it’s about paying back money to Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen. He paid him back after he gave $130,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about her saying she had sex with Trump in 2006. Trump is being accused of lying about paying Cohen for something secretly, by saying the money was for legal fees.

Trump said he didn’t do anything wrong and he believes the money he paid Cohen was for real legal work.

To prove Trump guilty, the jury must be really sure that he made or had someone make false records for his business on purpose, to trick others, and to hide or do another illegal thing.

According to the law, if the prosecutors do not prove some parts, then they have to say Trump is not guilty. Prosecutors say Trump lied about his business records to hide breaking campaign finance and state election laws. They accuse him of trying to manipulate the election.

Just before the jury started talking, Trump wrote all in capital letters about the trial, the judge, and Cohen on his social media. Then he went from Trump Tower to the courthouse on Wednesday morning.

He said it was a unfair trial and falsely said the judge wouldn’t let him defend himself by saying he did what his lawyer, Cohen, told him to do. In March, Trump’s lawyers told the court that they would not use that defense.

Trump said there was no crime, except for the person who got caught stealing from me. He was talking about Cohen. He wrote, “In God We Trust. ” in big letters again.

The people on the jury in the trial were from different places and had different jobs. They seemed very interested in what Cohen and Daniels were saying. Lots of people wrote down information and paid close attention as people who saw what happened answered questions from Manhattan prosecutors and lawyers representing Trump.

The jurors began discussing the case after hearing the final arguments from both sides and receiving instructions on the law from the judge. The judge also gave them some advice on how to decide if a witness is telling the truth, like considering if their story makes sense, if it matches with other witness accounts, how they acted when testifying, and if they might have a reason to lie.

However, the judge stated that there is no set way to determine if someone is telling the truth or not.

The rules he explained are normal but maybe even more important now that Trump’s defense focused a lot on doubting the truthfulness of important prosecution witnesses, like Cohen.

Every person must agree on the decision. During the discussion, six extra jurors who watched the whole trial will wait at the courthouse in case they need to take the place of a juror who gets sick or can’t come. If that happens, discussions will begin again when the new juror is ready.