Trump again demands new trials in E. Jean Carroll cases, complains of 'pile-on' with 'inadmissible' character evidence

Source: Law & Crime

Jan 14th, 2025, 2:27 pm


President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday asked a federal court of appeals to reconsider taking on his request for a new trial in the defamation case brought — and won — by writer E. Jean Carroll.

In December 2024, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit turned down a substantially similar request. The panel determined the district court had not made any error or “combination of” errors that “affected” Trump’s “substantial rights.” Now, Trump is asking for the full court to consider the civil case — and, necessarily, to reconsider the argument about errors anew.

In May 2023, a jury of Manhattanites found that Trump sexually abused Carroll in the dressing room of New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman sometime in the late 1990s — and later defamed her when he strongly denied the allegations and also denied ever knowing Carroll, to the press. While the civil sexual assault finding has zero force of criminal guilt, it was essentially cited as a necessary precursor to the defamation lawsuit. In that first case, the jury ordered Trump to pay his victim $5 million in damages.

In January, another Manhattan jury ruled in Carroll’s favor over a markedly similar set of legal complaints. Jurors would eventually award Carroll $83.3 million in that case. Trump is asking for new trials in both cases.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/passion-and-prejudice-instead-of-the-law-and-evidence-trump-again-demands-new-trials-in-e-jean-carroll-cases-complains-of-pile-on-with-inadmissible-character-evidence/