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New York (CNN) A federal jury in New York has begun hearings in E. Gene Carroll’s civil suit and defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.
A panel in Manhattan federal court will review Carroll’s allegations that Trump raped her in the locker room of Bergdorf Goodman’s lingerie department in the spring of 1996 and defamed her in a social media post last October. Mr. Trump denies the allegations.
Here’s what a jury group of 6 men and 3 women would consider, anonymously with lawyers in general.
What Carol has to prove
Carroll filed a lawsuit last November under the New York Adult Survivor Act. The bill would open a retroactive window for sexual assault allegations like Carroll’s, with a long statute of limitations.
This is not a criminal trial. In a civil lawsuit like Carroll’s, the jury must decide whether Carroll’s defense team proved by a preponderance of evidence that Trump assaulted Carroll.
To substantiate her defamation claim, the jury said Carroll’s defense team found it false when Trump released a statement about Carroll last year that deliberately exposed her to public ridicule. They must also find that the statement was false and that Trump made the statement with actual malice. We must determine what she has proved by some evidence.
Neither the primacy of the evidentiary standard nor the clear and persuasive standard of evidence is as high a standard as evidence beyond a reasonable doubt used in criminal cases. Clear and convincing evidence is higher than the preponderance of evidence, which means it is more likely than not. Clear and convincing evidence leaves no substantive doubt in the jury’s mind and establishes the proposition as highly probable.
The jury must reach a unanimous verdict, but may reach different verdicts on each of the two claims of battery and defamation.
How to get Trump to pay
Whether Carroll receives the prize in this trial depends on whether the jury unanimously believes her allegations against Trump. It can award punitive damages for Carroll intended and actual damages to compensate her for the damages the jury found that Trump caused her.
If the jury chooses to consider awarding punitive damages to Trump, the jury will consider factors such as the gravity of the conduct, efforts to cover up the conduct, and whether Trump has engaged in similar conduct. (The testimony of Jessica Rees and Natasha Stoinoff both claim they were assaulted by Trump, which Trump claims is denied.)
But jurors cannot add a specific amount to an award of punitive damages to punish Trump for the harm he allegedly inflicted on others.
Carroll’s attorneys have not suggested the amount of damages the jury should consider.
“For E. Jean Carroll, this lawsuit is not about money,” attorney Roberta Kaplan said in closing arguments Monday. “It’s about restoring her reputation.”
“Decades of living alone without companionship, no one to cook dinner, no one to walk the dog, no one to watch TV with, decades of feeling dirty and worthless. What’s the cost of being there?” Kaplan said. “I’m not going to do the numbers for you.”
Trump won’t appear in court
Mr Trump did not attend the trial. Like defendants in his civil actions, he is not required to appear in court for trials or proceedings and has the right not to testify in his defense.
Carroll’s attorney told jurors Trump’s absence from court should be taken as a sign of guilt.
“She showed up, took an oath, and told you what had happened. During that time, Donald Trump was nowhere to be found, in court, and on the stand. And you We should draw the following conclusion: It’s because he raped Ms. Carol and didn’t want to testify about it,” Carroll’s attorney Michael Ferrara said Monday.
Instead, Trump’s attorney told jurors that Trump didn’t have to come to court to make the same denial he made in the deposition that took place during the trial.
“How do you prove a negative?” said Joe Tacopina. “Disputing the story is our defense. There are no witnesses for us to call. There are no witnesses for us to call because he wasn’t there and it didn’t happen.”
A video deposition of Trump, filmed last October and played back for jurors during Carroll’s case, was released Friday.
Trump looks most upset in the video when he denies Carroll’s rape allegations. It’s not true.You’re also a political operative.You’re a disgrace.But she’s accusing me and you of rape.And it never happened.
At one point during the deposition, Trump had a famous black-and-white photo of himself, Carroll, her ex-husband news anchor John Johnson, and Trump’s then-wife Ivana. He recalled thinking he was good at working in television, but mistook Carol for his other ex-wife, Marla Maples.
“That’s Mara, yes. That’s my wife,” he said.
After his lawyer corrected him, Trump said the photo was blurry.
He acknowledged that the photo suggested he had met Carol at least once, but said it must have been very briefly at the event and said he didn’t remember or know her.
“I don’t know this woman yet. I don’t know anything about ,” said the former president.
Access Hollywood tapes and Trump history
To wrap things up, the jury once again watched the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, and how Trump allowed you “when you’re a star” to aggressively act on women without their consent, and during depositions. heard Trump’s reaction to the tape.
Trump revealed his “playbook” for treating women on tape when he thought no one was listening, Kaplan said. tells you in his own words.”
Tacopina responded by criticizing Trump’s language in the tape, but said the crude nature still made Carroll’s allegations untrue. He called the exposed tapes distracting.
“They’re trying to take the part of Donald Trump that you hate, or even hate, and expand it into a story that makes absolutely no sense,” Tacopina said. A crude person, you might think her story doesn’t make sense, and both could be true.”
Trump accuser testimony
Carroll testified at trial over two full days during her case, recounting her story and how she has been living since her accusations were made public and she was cross-examined for several hours. told
Two friends who testified that Carroll spoke shortly after the rape allegation said they remembered Carroll’s account in 1996.
Former New York local anchor Carol Martin also testified that Carol, who was doing a show on the same cable news network at the time, confided in her within days of the alleged incident. Birnbach and Martin, who hadn’t been together, stepped forward to support their friend shortly after Carroll published her account in New York magazine.
Trump’s legal team accuses the two of conspiring with Carroll to fabricate the story and try to overthrow Trump. spoke in a personal message shown in
Reese and Stoinoff allege that Trump physically forced himself on them.
Finally, Carroll’s attorneys argued that the allegations from Carroll, Reese and Stoynoff revealed Trump’s pattern of aggressive behavior.
In each woman’s testimony, they were told that Trump first involved them in a semi-public place, then abruptly grabbed them, then denied the allegations, saying, “She’s too ugly to be who she is.” We cannot attack,” he said.
“Three women separated by decades, but one pattern of behavior. What happened to Carroll is nothing special in that respect. “It’s standard operating procedure,” Kaplan said.
Mr Trump has denied the allegations made by Reeds and Stonov. Tacopina told jurors on Monday that their testimony would be a distraction at trial because their arguments were not in front of this juror and would not affect Carroll’s allegations.
In closing arguments on Monday, Tacopina accused Carroll of fabricating the rape allegations to sell her book.
“She abused the system by making false claims about money, status, political reasons, etc.,” Tacopina said. “And in doing so, she minimized real rape victims. You know, she minimizes rape victims around the water and around the world to take advantage of someone’s word.” She is taking advantage of their pain and suffering and is taking advantage of their story and we can’t make millions of dollars for her abusing this process and trying to cheat you. You can make a profit.”
other witnesses
Dr. Leslie Lebowitz, a clinical psychologist under contract to Carol’s legal team, examined Carol last week and found no signs of a thought disorder, personality disorder, mental illness, or PTSD, but she suspected she had been raped. testified that there was Trump.
“She has suffered from painful intrusive memories for years,” Lebowitz said. “She has endured a decline in the way she thinks and feels about herself. is showing
Another expert witness subpoenaed by Carroll’s attorneys, Ashley Humphries, a marketing professor at Northwestern University, said Trump’s statements at issue in the trial reached between 13.7 million and 18 million impressions. I testified.
Humphreys and a team of researchers evaluated the original post published on Truth Social and how it spread across other social media platforms, websites, and media such as cable and network broadcast television.
In a series of calculations, Humphries said that about 21% of those who read the statement in some way (roughly 3.7 million to 5.6 million people) likely believed Trump.
The analysis did not consider the impact of previous remarks Trump made about Carroll, and Humphries admitted during cross-examination that he did not consider the damage done to Trump by Carroll’s remarks against him.
Still, marketing experts deny her claims, testifying that it would cost up to $2.7 million to run an effective marketing campaign to repair Carroll’s reputation from Trump’s Oct. 12, 2022 damage. I left a comment to
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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