With closing arguments wrapped up in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, a jury of 12 New Yorkers with a variety of backgrounds are expected to begin their deliberations Wednesday before deciding whether to make Trump the first former president in U.S. history with a criminal conviction.
After several days of jury selection last month, the judge and lawyers for both sides assembled a 12-person jury consisting of seven men and five women, including six who are married and three with children (six alternate jurors were also selected).
All but three indicated during jury selection they had a college education, and they come from a wide array of professional backgrounds, according to multiple reports—including two lawyers, two educators, a software engineer, a security engineer, a physical therapist, a salesman, an investment banker, a businessman, a product manager and a retired wealth manager.
A majority are not native New Yorkers, with nine indicating they lived somewhere else before coming to New York, and two previously lived outside the U.S.—the jury foreman lived in Ireland while another juror lived in Lebanon.
At least five indicated they don’t follow the news closely: One juror who works as a teacher, for instance, indicated her colleagues had strong opinions on Trump, but she appreciated his candor, didn’t have a strong opinion either way, tried to stay out of politics and doesn’t like the news, according to press reports from jury selection.
While all the jurors insisted they believed they could be impartial, two expressed more significant disagreements with the former president—one juror acknowledged she did not agree with “a lot of his politics and his decisions as a president” but believed she could be a “totally impartial juror,” while another said she didn’t like Trump’s persona, but believed it didn’t impede her from being impartial.
When asked about their opinions on Trump, the remaining jurors all indicated they either had no strong opinions, or were ambivalent—agreeing with some things but disagreeing with others.
The New York Times was the most frequently mentioned source of news among the jurors, according to pool reports, among frequently cited mainstream outlets like the Wall Street Journal. Social media was also frequently cited. One juror who works as an investment banker indicated he kept up to date with a variety of sources, frequently seeing Trump’s Truth Social posts via X, while also following former Trump attorney Michael Cohen—a witness against Trump in the hush money case—and longtime Trump ally Kellyanne Conway.
“I don’t like some of my co-workers,” said one juror about her feelings on Trump, according to pool reports. “But I can hear him out and understand his point of view and understand his issues.”
Two of the jurors are attorneys: one a civil litigator and the other a corporate lawyer. Legal experts have noted it’s unusual for one lawyer, let alone two, to be seated on a jury, according to Politico. Former Trump attorney Timothy Parlatore told CNN lawyers can sometimes become very strong voices on the jury because of their background and knowledge—but they might also cut a jury cut through difficult technical language.
There’s no time limit for jurors to reach a verdict, but they will need to come to a unanimous conclusion. They could find Trump guilty of all, some or none of the counts. If they can’t reach a unanimous verdict, Merchan could declare a hung jury and a mistrial.
Prosecutors and attorneys for Trump wrapped up their cases in court on Tuesday. Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, in connection to alleged efforts to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence on an alleged affair with Trump, which Trump has long denied. Finding a jury was an exhaustive process in a case that has made history as the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Judge Juan Merchan culled through nearly 200 potential jurors, largely removing those who claimed they couldn’t be impartial, and allowing each side 10 ”strikes” —- allowing them to dismiss a juror without giving a reason. Trump, the Republican candidate for president, had said the Manhattan venue was unfair, given its traditionally Democratic leanings, and called for it to be moved to the more right-leaning Staten Island. As the Washington Post reported, a large number of jury candidates voiced complaints about Trump, with Trump at one point muttering a rebuttal—which prompted a rebuke from Merchan, warning against jury intimidation.
Judge Juan Merchan has been protective of the juror’s identities throughout the case, given the potential for backlash or harassment—Merchan has restricted access to jurors’ identities and has ordered the media to be cautious about reporting on identifying features. Prior to the seating of the jury, two previously seated jurors had been dismissed—one over concern about privacy.
