One reason I would have found against him was because he decided not show up. Silence can be used against you in a civil trial. It's hard defending an empty chair.
Because it was Donald Trump. — NOS4A2
Kaplan said the need for juror anonymity reflected the "unprecedented circumstances in which this trial will take place, including the extensive pretrial publicity and a very strong risk that jurors will fear harassment, unwanted invasions of their privacy, and retaliation."
...
In his decision, Kaplan cited Trump's March 18 call for protest if he were indicted in a Manhattan's district attorney case for covering up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Kaplan said Trump's reaction "has been perceived by some as an incitement to violence," and said some people charged over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol "rightly or wrongly" attributed their actions to incitement by Trump.
The judge also said Trump has "repeatedly" attacked courts, judges, law enforcement and even individual jurors.
These, the judge said, included the forepersons of the grand jury looking into whether Trump tried to sway the 2020 election results in Georgia, and the jury at longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone's 2019 obstruction trial.
"If jurors' identities were disclosed, there would be a strong likelihood of unwanted media attention to the jurors, influence attempts, and/or of harassment or worse of jurors by supporters of Mr. Trump," Kaplan wrote.
That seems to be why he lost, not because E. Jean Carrol established anything beyond a reasonable doubt. — NOS4A2
The trial of this case will begin on April 25, 2023. On March 11, 2023, the Court
directed the parties to file any objections to trying the case before an anonymous jury. Neither objected.
Clearly they thought that either a) the evidence of what Trump did didn't satisfy the legal definition of rape or b) the evidence of rape wasn't a "preponderance" of evidence.
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