Donald Trump
has always claimed that he is unique in as many words as possible. And he is sui generis, particularly the path he blazed to the White House. For example, he’s the only WWE Hall of Famer to become US President. And now he has set another feather to his cap: become the first US President to be convicted of a
felony
.
Now what’s particularly interesting in this case are the unique quirks of the US
legal system
that requires 18 jurors: 12 active and 6 alternatives, who decide the fate of a
trial
.
For Trump’s case, 18 New Yorkers were picked, and they were asked a series of 42 questions before being picked, from which both lawyers seek to see the biases of prospective jurors. One important part of the questionnaire is the media diet of various jurors. There is also basic information about each juror.
In Trump’s trial, each juror voted that Trump was guilty. In a criminal offensive trial, any judgement has to be unanimous. That means that all 12 jurors must agree on the judgement and a
jury
is considered hung if even one juror – like John Stuart Mill’s quote about one person disagreeing with the entire world – is different from the other 11.
In Trump’s case, all 12 jurors found him guilty but what was particularly interesting was Juror Number 2, who worked in finance and lives in Hell’s Kitchen. Juror 2, who loves hiking, music, concerts, and even believed that Trump had done some “good for the country”. More interestingly,
Juror 2
said his news sources were
Truth Social
and X. And yet, he also found Trump “guilty” in the hush money trial.
For the uninitiated, Truth Social is a social media platform owned by the Trump Media and Technology Group whose majority shareholder is Donald Trump and was set up as a Twitter clone after the former was banned from it post the January 6 Insurrection. X is also a platform where Donald Trump enjoys more popularity compared to legacy media outlets, with the exception of Fox News.
The 12 Jurors’ Self-confessed Media Diet
Juror 1: The Daily Mail, Fox News, MSNBC, The NYT
Juror 2: Truth Social, X
Juror 3: Google, NYT, WSJ
Juror 4: None
Juror 5: Google, TikTok
Juror 6: Facebook, Google, NYT, TikTok
Juror 7: NYT, WSJ
Juror 8: The New York Post, NYT, WSJ
Juror 9: CNN, NYT
Juror 10: NYT
Juror 11: Google
Juror 12: CNN, NYT, USA Today
What would have happened if Juror 2 disagreed?
In case, Juror 2 didn’t agree with his peers, then the verdict would’ve been considered hung. When a jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict, the case has to be retried with a new jury. If the second jury is also unable to reach a verdict, the judge is likely to declare a mistrial. After this the ball is in the prosecutor’s court who can decide whether to drop charges, negotiate a plea deal or retry the case a third time.
What now?
Trump’s
conviction
isn’t the end of the road. Now comes a sentencing and a potential prison sentence which will take place on July 11, days before Trump’s sentencing by Judge Juan M Merchan. Trump also has to deal with three more criminal cases.
Trump’s legal cases are unprecedented and even the US constitution isn’t sure whether a sitting US President can be jailed.