It only takes one of the 12 jurors to unravel the prosecution’s case and result in a hung jury, and Donald Trump ’s lawyers are reportedly pinning their hopes on one particular juror.
Politico Playbook cites a report in the Bulwark which points to one juror who has “appeared to nod along in seeming accordance with the defense at times” and “lit up” when the Republican senator for Ohio, JD Vance, and other GOP lawmakers have appeared in court to support Trump. The report cites a source as saying:
There are eight people on that jury who definitely hate Trump. If there’s one person who doesn’t, it’s [this] juror.
Another source noted how this person “makes eye contact or gives ‘a smile or a nod’ in the defense’s direction at times”.
Trump defense trying for hung jury only. Presenting no defense at all. Then, with Blanche’s inappropriate comment about prison, he went whole hog for jury nullification. Won’t work. He just made all 12 jurors aware of the possibility that one of them might try it. So they will be on their guard now.
Whoever wrote that headline softened the actual content of the article, which is typical when a media outlet wants to maximize reader views. The article says very directly that she’s playing into Trump’s delay strategy, without ascribing motive. Which you can’t really do in a fact-based article without crawling inside her head.
The note said, “This case should be dismissed by the judge…” I’m guessing that is completely out of line in a court of law. Maybe since the jury presumably didn’t see it, it doesn’t matter. Just seemed too cute by half to me, especially accompanied by that shitty grin.
Hokey smokes – When I read the HuffPost account, I thought it said the missus spat on the neighbor’s CAR… Spitting on a cat, now that is really one toke over the line.
Interesting and sounds like a bit of pot stirring. Lawrence O’Donnell indicated that the jury was attentive throughout and he could not read the jury at all. He was in the courtroom several days. Wonder if these are folks who don’t cover trials who made these inferences.
I think it’d be best if the Donnie/Bill the Cat would go, “THBBFT!,” and fall over.
In that case, we might even get a, “I’m Bill the Cat and I approve this message. ACK!”
I am wondering if there will be a jury instruction specifically mentioning missing witnesses. Or there could be a general instruction that jurors are to consider only evidence presented in court? The NYT ran a piece two days ago that implied that Allen Weisselberg’s absence from the prosecution’s witness list could hurt their case. My speculation is that Trump’s lawyers pitched that story idea to the NYT and they ran with it. Anything Weisselberg said on the stand against Trump would have been dismissed by the defense as just more perjured testimony from him in response to pressure from the DA’s office. The DA gave up on using Weisselberg when it accepted his last perjury guilty plea.
