Jury in the historic Trump case begins deliberation

The jury began deliberating whether to convict former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments, a decision with profound political implications as he seeks the presidency again.

The jurors in the criminal case of ex-President of the United States Donald Trump began the deliberation stage on Wednesday after a trial that lasted about 34 days. The six men and six women jury is supposed to decide on the guilt or innocence of Trump on 34 felonies of giving false statements about the payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. 

Then, for more than an hour, Judge Juan Merchan had to dismiss the jurors on the law and the standard of proof needed to secure a conviction. He also told them that in any criminal trial, the onus of proving that the accused is guilty lies with the prosecution and that it is not sufficient for them to prove that the accused is possibly guilty. 

It also quoted Merchan while explaining the multiple felony charges against Trump and the prosecutors alleged that he provided false documents to cover other possible criminal activities such as violation of election laws and tax laws. But the judge noted that for a jury to convict on falsifying records, they do not need to find Trump guilty of those underlying crimes. 

The maximum punishment for each count is four years imprisonment; however, most lawyers do not think that he is likely to be severely punished due to his young age and lack of previous record. An acquittal would go a long way in Trump’s preparation to stand for the presidency again as he will be cleared. 

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On Wednesday the jurors had a few hours to deliberate and at some point, they requested to see some of the testimony of the witnesses when they resumed on Thursday morning. Their discussions will continue until they reach a unanimous verdict on each count or one of them drops dead, at which point in time the judge may discharge a mistrial. 

This case was the first one which one of the major presidential candidates was charged with a crime. This would affect the politics leading up to the 2024 election year.