NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors rejected E. Jean Carroll’s rape declare towards Donald Trump, however discovered him chargeable for battery in 1996 assault.
The jury awarded Carroll at the least $2 million.
The main points of the decision had been to be introduced at 3 p.m. in a federal courtroom in New York Metropolis.
Phrase of the decision emerged just some hours after the jury started deliberating within the case, which alleges Trump raped Carroll in a luxurious Manhattan division retailer in 1996.
U.S. District Choose Lewis A. Kaplan learn directions on the regulation to the nine-person jury earlier than the panel started discussing Carroll’s allegations of battery and defamation shortly earlier than midday.
Trump mentioned he won’t communicate till after the trial, “however will attraction the Unconstitutional silencing of me … irrespective of the result!”
Trump by no means attended the trial, which is in its third week, and rejected an invite to testify, which the choose prolonged via the weekend even after Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, mentioned Thursday that his consumer wouldn’t testify.
Tacopina advised the jury in closing arguments Monday that Carroll’s account is simply too far fetched to be believed. He mentioned she made it as much as gas gross sales of a 2019 memoir wherein she first publicly revealed her claims and to disparage Trump for political causes.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, cited excerpts from Trump’s October deposition and his infamous feedback on a 2005 “Entry Hollywood” video wherein he mentioned celebrities can seize girls between the legs with out asking.
She urged jurors to imagine her consumer.
“He didn’t even hassle to point out up right here in individual,” Kaplan mentioned. She mentioned a lot of what he mentioned in his deposition and in public statements “really helps our facet of the case.”
“In a really actual sense, Donald Trump is a witness towards himself,” she mentioned. “He is aware of what he did. He is aware of that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll.”
Carroll, 79, testified that she had an opportunity encounter with Trump on the Bergdorf Goodman retailer throughout the road from Trump Tower. She mentioned it was a lighthearted interplay wherein they teased one another about making an attempt on a bit of lingerie earlier than Trump turned violent inside a dressing room.
Tacopina advised jurors there was no motive to name Trump as a witness when Carroll can’t even recall when her encounter with Trump occurred.
He advised the jury Carroll made up her claims after listening to a few 2012 “Regulation and Order” episode wherein a lady is raped within the dressing room of the lingerie part of a Bergdorf Goodman retailer.
“They modeled their secret scheme on an episode of probably the most common reveals on tv,” he mentioned of Carroll.
Two of Carroll’s associates testified that she advised them concerning the encounter with Trump shortly after it occurred, a few years earlier than the “Regulation and Order” episode aired.
It is a breaking information story. Examine again for updates.
