WASHINGTON (TND) — Day one of jury deliberations in former President Trump's hush money trial concluded after jurors sent two notes to the judge. One requested to rehear the judge's jury instructions and the other to read back testimony from witnesses Michael Cohen and David Pecker.
The National Desk was joined by Chicago trial attorney Karen Conti Wednesday evening to discuss the requests made.
"It's not unusual for the jurors to ask for testimony, and even jury instructions are read back. But reading the whole set of jury instructions, that is surprising to me because they are very complicated and they took about an hour. So the idea that they want to sit through that again means that they are having probably some serious debates about what the instructions say," Conti explained.
Conto said it is important to note that there are two lawyers on the jury.
"So the lawyers, you would think, would be leading this discussion because the lawyers are going to be more knowledgeable about the nature of jury instructions. So I'm not sure which way this court is at this point. It's hard to tell. And we would just be looking into a crystal ball to make a prediction," Conti said.
The defense is looking to keep the read-back testimony narrowed to what has been requested, however, the prosecution wants an extra page. We asked Conti what concerns the defense could be having at this point in deliberations.
"It's really important that the judge gets this right because if the judge makes the wrong decision and it goes up on appeal, this could be a reason for reversal," Conti said. "I think the judge has to do exactly what the jury asks because I think maybe what the defense wants is, you know, to expand this a little bit and maybe the prosecution wants to expand it as well to kind of get a feel for what the context is."
Conti said regardless, the judge needs to do exactly what is requested and nothing more.
The jurors deliberated for four-and-a-half hours Wednesday and will be back Thursday at 9:30 a.m. EST.
For a full breakdown of the jury's deliberations, click here.
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