'I was surprised': Expert warns one jury decision could jeopardize Trump's NYC trial
A full jury has been empaneled to hear former President Donald Trump's criminal case in Manhattan — but that doesn't necessarily mean the court won't have to deal with more jury complications, trial expert J. Lee Meihls told CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday.
That's because there's every risk that more jurors could bail on the whole proceeding out of fear for their safety or pressure over their responsibilities — especially if Trump supporters or others trying to disrupt the trial expose the identities of the jury. Several jurors were excused after being seated during the process of selection, and that could continue to happen even now — another juror raised fears about media exposure, but ultimately decided to stay on.
"I mean, there are bad actors out there who might be prone to out jurors who don't want to be ousted if they ultimately come down with a verdict that they don't like," said Tapper.
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"Yeah, agreed," said Meihls. "And we already saw two jurors who were sworn in the main jury of 12, who then were dismissed because they came back and said, can't do it."
What made this significant, she continued, is that "unlike jurors who were dismissed during voir dire who went to the press afterwards because they were allowed to talk, who said, I didn't think that was fair. I'm fair. I could have been a fair juror, but in this case you've got a juror who's already starting to feel the pressure."
"I was surprised Judge Merchan only had six alternate selected," she added. "Now, i'm not in the courtroom ... I don't have a crystal ball. I don't see what's going on, but apparently both sides were there and chambers and got a chance to talk to her. And in other cases — and I've had over 500 jury trials — a case like this, I was surprised there weren't maybe even 12 alternates for this very reason."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
J. Lee Meihls identifies risk to Trump jury youtu.be