CNN
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The jury in Donald Trump’s New York hush cash trial completed its first day of deliberations Wednesday with out reaching a verdict after assembly for greater than four-and-a-half hours.
Jurors will return on Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET to renew deliberations, however the 12 women and men can even once more hear from Decide Juan Merchan.
Wednesday afternoon, the jury requested to listen to a readback of 4 separate components of witness testimony, together with from former Nationwide Enquirer chief David Pecker and Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen. Jurors additionally wish to re-hear Merchan’s directions on the regulation that he had given them earlier Wednesday morning.
The jurors requested 4 items of testimony: Pecker’s testimony about his cellphone dialog with Trump in June 2016, his testimony about not finalizing Trump’s fee to AMI for Karen McDougal’s life rights, his testimony in regards to the August 2015 Trump Tower assembly, and Cohen’s testimony in regards to the Trump Tower assembly.
The testimony the jurors are requesting pertains to interactions Trump had instantly with Pecker. The testimony from Cohen and Pecker in regards to the 2015 assembly issues the assembly the place Pecker agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of the marketing campaign, whereas Pecker testified in his name with Trump in June 2016 that he mentioned the McDougal story and whether or not Trump can purchase it.
The jury will finally determine whether or not a former president is convicted of felony crimes for the primary time in American historical past – on the identical time that Trump is working in opposition to President Joe Biden for president this November.
The political implications of the case weren’t overtly at difficulty on Wednesday morning as Merchan spent an hour instructing the jury on the law.
He defined the 34 felony counts in opposition to Trump for falsifying enterprise information over the reimbursement to Cohen for hush cash funds made to porn star Stormy Daniels earlier than the 2016 election, going over the weather of the crime that jurors should determine prosecutors have confirmed past an inexpensive doubt to return a responsible verdict.
Merchan additionally reminded jurors they need to put apart their biases as they determine the defendant’s destiny.
“Bear in mind, you might have promised to be a good juror,” the choose mentioned. “A good juror is an individual who will hold their promise to be truthful and neutral and who is not going to allow the decision to be influenced by a bias or prejudice in favor of or in opposition to an individual who appeared on this trial.”
Merchan has requested the jury to make clear Thursday morning whether or not they needed your complete, hourlong presentation to be learn again, or if there have been simply parts of it that they wanted to listen to yet one more time.
The jury was not given a written copy of Merchan’s charging directions, one thing CNN senior authorized analyst Elie Honig mentioned is an issue. Whereas most federal judges will ship the precise doc with the jury because it deliberates, New York state courts forbid this apply.
“It’s the best way that New York State courts do it,” Honig mentioned. “They’re obstinate, they’re caught up to now, they’re making life tough for the jury.”
Whereas the deliberations are ongoing, Trump and his attorneys are remaining within the courthouse in downtown Manhattan, to allow them to be prepared if the jury returns any further notes, which could possibly be questions or requests just like the one Wednesday afternoon to re-hear testimony.
The jurors have been additionally given a laptop computer that had all the proof within the trial, so they might seek the advice of it whereas they deliberate. The choose mentioned the laptop computer doesn’t have web entry.
In the meantime, the six alternate jurors aren’t but off the hook. They’ve been requested to come back again within the occasion one among them wants to interchange one of many 12 jurors in case they’re unable to serve.