At the end of the week, there was a concerning development related to Trump’s conviction.  There was a post to the New York Court’s Facebook page which alleged that a juror had disclosed information about deliberations to a relative.

Of course, the Trump team seized on this news to claim that the verdict needs to be set aside.  But, despite Trump’s tendency to act prematurely, the Trump team is several steps away from getting the verdict tossed.

The initial hurdle to overcome is identifying the source of this post.  As even an elementary school student knows, anybody can make up a user name and post to a website.  And that post can say anything.  All that we have at the present time is some unknown person is claiming to be a relative of an unidentified juror and asserts that the juror disclosed information from the deliberations to that person.  While, in theory, it is possible that the judge will allow the defense to question each of the jurors, it is equally, if not more, likely that the judge will make the defense prove that the post came from a real person who actually knows one of the jurors and is willing to swear that his post is true.  If the defense can do that, the court would almost certainly allow either the prosecution or defense to call that juror to testify to corroborate or dispute that posters testimony. Continue Reading...