Judge in Trump's hush money case raises questions about social media post claiming to preview jury verdict
The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump's hush money trial asked attorneys about a social media post purportedly previewing the former president's guilty verdict.
The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump's hush money trial has asked attorneys in the case about a social media post purporting to preview the former president's guilty verdict.
“Today, the Court became aware of a comment that was posted on the Unified Court System’s public Facebook page and which I now bring to your attention,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote in a letter dated Friday.
“My cousin is a juror and said Trump is getting convicted,” the post stated, according to Merchan's letter. “Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!”
Merchan said that the comment, which was attributed to a user identified as Michael Anderson, was "now labeled as one week old," and was posted in response to a routine notice from the court posted on May 29 about oral arguments unrelated to proceedings in Trump’s case.
When a defendant who has been convicted by a jury but has not yet been sentenced learns of alleged jury misconduct, he can move to set aside the verdict under New York criminal procedure law. If a defendant can prove that jury misconduct “may have affected a substantial right of the defendant,” the remedy is a new trial.
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