A second juror who was seated on the jury for former President Donald Trump in the Manhattan ‘Hush-Money’ Trial earlier this week was excused on Thursday, after prosecutors said that someone with the same name was arrested in the 90s for “tearing down political advertisements.”
The Associated Press also reported that this juror, an IT consultant who previously described President Trump as “fascinating and mysterious,” failed to disclose his wife was allegedly a previous participant in a corruption inquiry by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
The two were sworn in earlier in the week with five others, including one alternate, on the second day of the trial.
The two dismissals by New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan reduce the number of seated jurors to five. A total of 18 jurors need to be seated before the trial begins, six of which will be alternates.
Second Dismissal
The second dismissal Thursday came when prosecutors raised concerns the juror may have not been forthcoming during jury selection when a question was asked whether he had ever been accused of or convicted of a crime, AP reported.
The juror was summoned to the court to answer questions after an article was found regarding a person with the same name being arrested in the 1990s for tearing down political campaign signs supporting conservative candidates in Westchester County, a suburban county of New York.
The prosecution also disclosed the man’s wife may have been involved in a deferred prosecution agreement with their office, also in the 1990s.
AP reported that the questions by Judge Merchan were “off-microphone” and thus his responses to the judge’s questions were not fully known, along with whether or not he confirmed or denied the allegations were indeed connected to him.
Thursday’s events bring a roadblock to an already difficult task of finding enough jurors to seat in the largely liberal Manhattan jury pool who are found to be able to decide President Trump’s fate fairly and impartially.
