Retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Tuesday that the jurors in former President Donald Trump's New York paperwork trial don't all have to agree on a crime in order to convict him.
"Here's the crazy thing about this statute: You could have half the jury believing the underlying crime was an illegal campaign contribution and half the jury believing the underlying crime was a reduction of the adjusted gross income of The Trump Organization, thereby reducing their tax liability, thereby defrauding the State of New York of the fair market value of the tax on $130,000," Napolitano said during an appearance on "National Report."
"Under the law, they're all supposed to agree," he said. "They're all supposed to be of one mind on every element of the crime. But this is a crazy case, where, apparently — again, this hasn't been tried before — they don't have to agree as to which crime it is, as long as 12 of them agree that a crime was hidden or masked by the manner in which Stormy Daniels was paid and Michael Cohen was reimbursed."
Jurors in Trump's paperwork trial are back in court Tuesday after an eight-day break from the case and are expected to hear closing arguments from both the former president's legal team and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office before being charged by Judge Juan Merchan with an explanation of the law.
"What is the underlying federal law that he [Trump] is alleged to have broken?" Napolitano said. "Well, it's about time for Judge Merchan to tell the jury what that underlying law is that the president is alleged to have broken and to tell them that there must be evidence of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty that, in fact, he broke that federal law. We'll find that out when the judge gives his explanation of the law at the end of the day today or tomorrow morning."
The retired New Jersey judge also offered a "rule of thumb" to watch for when it comes to the jury reaching a verdict.
"If a verdict comes in in an hour or so, it's a not guilty," he said. "On the other hand, it could also be a not guilty if it comes in two days. Sometimes jurors will take a vote and be surprised. 'It's the first time we're talking about this. I can't believe we all believe he's not guilty. Maybe we shouldn't go out there right now. They'll think we didn't look at the evidence carefully. Let's wait an hour or so and then we'll go out.'"
"Other times, there may be a split amongst the jurors, and then they must begin methodically to go through all the evidence," he continued. "So, a very quick verdict almost always means not guilty, but a verdict that takes a long time could also mean not guilty. Conviction will take a while because they will have to decide do we believe Michael Cohen? Is the other evidence — the documents from The Trump Organization — is that strong enough to convict, even though we wouldn't trust Michael Cohen with the time of day? All of these things they're going to have to go through and it takes time."
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Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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