Trump's Mistrial Request in E. Jean Carroll Case Denied

His attorney accused the judge in the civil trial stemming from alleged rape of bias
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 1, 2023 8:59 AM CDT
Updated May 2, 2023 12:40 AM CDT
Trump Requests Mistrial in E. Jean Carroll Case
Attorney Joe Tacopina, a lawyer representing former President Donald Trump, arrives at federal court in New York, April 27, 2023.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file)
UPDATE May 2, 2023 12:40 AM CDT

The Trump team's motion to have a mistrial declared in E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation case against Donald Trump has been denied by the judge in the case, CBS News reports. Meanwhile, Carroll completed her third and final day of testimony Monday, Politico reports. Among other things, she said that she presents a "front" that her life is "fabulous." “I don’t want anybody to know that I suffer,” she said. “Up until now, I would be ashamed to let people know what is actually going on.”

May 1, 2023 8:59 AM CDT

Former President Trump's attorney requested a mistrial Monday in his client’s rape case, saying the judge overseeing the civil proceedings in federal court has ruled in a biased manner against Trump. Attorney Joe Tacopina cited "pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings" by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan as his basis for the mistrial request, made in a letter to the judge, per the AP. Since mistrials, though sometimes frequently requested at trials, are rarely granted, Tacopina was more likely hoping the judge would grant a version of his alternative requests.

In those, Tacopina asked that Kaplan correct the record for any rulings that mischaracterized the evidence or permit Tacopina more latitude in questioning E. Jean Carroll, a columnist who sued Trump in November under a New York state law letting sexual assault victims temporarily sue others for attacks that happened even decades ago. Carroll, 79, testified at a trial that began last week that Trump raped her in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman department store in midtown Manhattan, most likely in spring 1996. She said a chance encounter brought the pair together in an episode that was fun and flirtatious until Trump became violent in the dressing room.

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Trump, 76, has long denied that a rape happened, that he was at the store with Carroll, or that he even knew her beyond fleeting moments when pictures were taken of them in group settings in other years. Amid a flurry of public denials and insults from Trump that prompted Carroll to add a defamation claim to the lawsuit, Trump has also insisted that Carroll was motivated by political reasons and a desire to sell copies of the 2019 memoir where she first publicly revealed her rape claims while Trump was still president. Carroll was expected to testify Monday for a third day and for a second day of cross-examination by Tacopina. Trump has not attended the trial, which is expected to last through the week.

(More Donald Trump stories.)

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