Jury says Trump liable in E. Jean Carroll sex abuse, defamation trial

A federal jury in New York on Tuesday found former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and forcibly touching the writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s, and of defaming her last fall when he accused her of making up that account.

The verdict in the civil trial came after less than three hours of deliberation in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan.

The nine-member panel started discussing potential verdicts in the case at 11:50 a.m. ET after Judge Lewis Kaplan gave the panel final instructions and a 10-question verdict form.

If jurors unanimously determine that Carroll proved either of her claims, of battery and defamation, they will decide whether to award her compensatory and punitive monetary damages,

There are six men and three women on the jury.

Carroll, 79, alleged in a lawsuit that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s.

Trump cannot be prosecuted for the alleged rape because the statute of limitations for such a crime has long since passed.

But Carroll is making a civil claim of battery for the alleged attack under a New York state law enacted in late 2022 that opened a one-year window for lawsuits alleging sexual assaults would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations.

Carroll also claims that Trump defamed her last fall when he said she had made up her account of being raped.

Trump, 76, called the allegations “a complete con job,” and said that she was not his “type.”

Trump, who leads early polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, did not testify during the trial.

But portions of his deposition taken last fall by Carroll’s lawyer were played for jurors during the trial, and during closing arguments on Monday.

Carroll took the witness stand. So did two women who testified she had told them right after the alleged incident that Trump had raped her.

Two other women testified that Trump had kissed and groped them without their consent in incidents that occurred years apart.

Because the trial is a civil case, jurors were asked to determine whether Trump was liable for damages if they first find that Carroll had proved her claims either by a preponderance of evidence or by the higher threshold of by clear and convincing evidence.

Both thresholds are less stringent than proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the requirement for a guilty verdict in criminal cases.

For the battery claim, jurors were asked on the verdict form if they found by a preponderance of evidence that Trump raped Carroll, if he sexually abused her, and if he forcibly touched her.

If they answered “yes” to any of those questions, they then would answer whether Carroll was injured as a result of his conduct.If jurors conclude Carroll was injured due to that, they then are asked to determine “a dollar amount that would fairly and adequately compensate her for that injury or those injuries.”

“If ‘No,’ insert $1,” the verdict form says.

On the claim of defamation, jurors are asked on the form if they find by a preponderance of evidence that Trump’s statement was defamatory, whether it was false and whether he made it “with actual malice.”

The form then asks jurors to determine whether monetary damages should be assessed against Trump, depending on how they answer questions related to the defamation claim.

Read: Trump jury verdict form

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